Thomas Pringle (Donegal, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Ceann Comhairle for the opportunity to speak.

It is concerning to think that there are many parents in this country who have been unable to find a place at an appropriate school for their child this coming September. I cannot imagine the stress these parents are under, being forced into a situation such as this so late in the year and with September only around the corner.

AsIAm’s latest snap survey is particularly troubling, bearing in mind that the survey is merely a snapshot of a nationwide crisis with less than half of respondents based in Dublin. It is clear that there is a massive shortage in appropriate school places for children with autism spectrum disorder, ASD.

The snap survey has shown that at least 267 children do not have an appropriate school place for September 2022. Shockingly, 241 respondents do not expect to receive an offer of an appropriate school place at all before September, meaning that many children will have no school to go to next year. Imagine how that would feel, to a student and to a parent, for a young person to miss out on all that school has to offer, not only as regards education, but also as regards the social and development opportunities it gives our young people.

What is worse is that we know that this number is nowhere near accurate and it is expected that there are numerous more stuck in the same situation. We also know that the Government most likely knows, or at least has the means to find out, what that exact number is. Despite this, these numbers have yet to be released and, cynically, I have to say that I believe the reason they have not been is because of how high they are and how bad this looks. There is no other explanation. That is truly despicable.

The Government has stated in its amendment to this motion that "a child's right to education is enshrined in the Constitution and, under the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, must be accessible on an equal basis with others in the community in which they live". This just proves how meaningless their own statements are. How can one say that a child's right to education must be accessible while so many in this country do not have access to appropriate education? The Government cannot be allowed to come in here and state that it believes that every child deserves equal access to education when its actions quite literally say the opposite. Something needs to change. We need to ensure that there are adequate resources for all children to get the education they deserve.

No child can be left behind. We need to look seriously into resourcing and funding to ensure this. The Government, at the very least, needs to publish the correct figures so that we can see properly the scale of this issue and what the problem is.

This is a serious problem in my constituency of Donegal and in many rural constituencies, where there is a complete lack of services in some parts. I have talked with many parents who have a child with additional needs and who seriously struggle to live in rural areas. They are forced to travel long distances for services and for appropriate schools, and for many this is not doable. Many of them have submitted multiple applications to schools in the hope that somewhere can offer appropriate special education. This should not be the way that parents have to behave.

Every child deserves and is entitled to an appropriate school place in his or her locality which meets his or her needs in agreement with his or her parents and psychologists’ report yet we are hearing reports of families that are unable even to get a psychologist's report to recommend this. This is not acceptable and cannot be tolerated any longer.

It is completely unfair that the stress and panic of this has been placed solely on the shoulders of the parents who have received such minimal assistance from the State regarding it. I am thinking especially of those parents who do not have English as their first language and who receive such little help in situations such as this. School placement and enrolment should be only a positive experience and should not be seen as negative. However, many parents living in direct provision and in temporary accommodation are completely left behind as well.

AsIAm states that it believes that this crisis was "foreseeable and preventable", which suggests an inexcusable failure by the Department. It is clear that there has been a complete lack of preplanning here and I have to ask why. Surely the numbers are there. Surely something could have been done sooner than June.

Going forward, AsIAm states that "through better planning, communication and a rights-based approach, we believe an emergency response is needed in an emergency situation." Unfortunately, this is now undeniably an emergency situation. We must respond accordingly.

I support this motion. I believe the amendments put forward by the Government are inappropriate and make no attempt to address this emergency situation properly.

I support Sinn Féin's call for the Government to publish data on the number of students who do not have an appropriate school place as soon as possible and I will be following up with the Minister's office on this. We cannot address the problem without first realising the scale of it. This is the very least that we can do.

The Department has to know these figures. If the Department does not know the figures, even bigger questions have to be asked. We should be able to gather these figures. We should know the extent of the problem. If we cannot meet it all the time that is fair enough but we should at least know what we are addressing and be upfront about it as well. It is the least we can expect.

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