Dessie Ellis (Dublin North West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

A child who has special educational needs or has learning difficulties will need appropriate educational provisions and facilities to address those needs. Such assessments should also determine the educational setting he or she should attend. The child could have speech, language and communication needs or behavioural, emotional and social difficulties. He or she could have autistic spectrum conditions or specific learning difficulties, such as dyslexia or attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. Regardless of the child's needs, difficulties or disabilities that interfere with learning, all children, especially those with special needs, have a right to a broad and balanced education. For the most part, children with special needs will go to an ordinary school and some might attend a special unit within the school grounds. Other children with special needs will go to special schools. In an ideal situation, the parents of the child, the school and the school board work in partnership to make the best decisions for the child's development and progress.

Homeless students face even greater challenges. For them, the classroom can represent, in a chaotic life, the only safe, consistent and stable place in their lives, as they often have to deal with difficult challenges outside the classroom that will directly impact on their academic performance. For children already identified as needing special education services, the stresses of homelessness can greatly increase learning problems.

The impact of the pandemic has brought new challenges for parents and children with special educational needs as they return to school. Many children were unable to participate in remote learning and, as a consequence, have lost crucial developmental skills. In my constituency, Dublin North-West, we have some of the highest waiting lists in the country for special needs places. I have met with parents who spoke to me of their experiences of trying to find a place for their child in a school. What was most striking from my conversations with these parents was the severe lack of places for children and the great difficulties parents face in trying to access resources. This has led to high levels of stress and anxiety for the parents and the child concerned. They highlighted the obvious reductions in the levels of special education teaching allocation and SNAs.

This was also highlighted in a survey conducted by three of the leading disability advocacy organisations in the State: Inclusion Ireland, Down Syndrome Ireland and AsIAm. Their report also found that while children with additional needs benefited from the return to school, it is clear they also faced new challenges, especially around accessing supports and being included in schools. The parents expressed to me in the strongest of terms that these issues must be addressed immediately and their children should have access to appropriate educational facilities and supports, such as additional teaching time and SNA supports.

An article published in 2020, "Special education reforms in Ireland: changing systems, changing schools", written by a group of academics from Trinity College Dublin, Dublin City University and the Economic and Social Research Institute who all have expertise in special needs education, highlighted the possible misuse of special needs teachers. The Department of Education was investigating at least 50 such cases and The Irish Timesalso reported there had been 88 reports of potentially inappropriate use of special education teaching resources since September 2017. However, teacher unions and those involved in school management bodies have said that such misuse of special needs teachers arose as a consequence of a number of factors, including, as was stated in the 2020 article:

...a lack of resources, gaps in competencies to manage the needs of some students within schools, and a lack of available teachers have impacted the ability of schools to allocate resources appropriately ... [It is clear that] The inclusion of an increased number of students with a spectrum of needs within schools has ... placed pressure on schools to expand the range of skills and competencies among the teaching staff

We know there is a severe lack of SNAs throughout the State and this has a knock-on effect in the lack of provision of school places for children in special needs education. There is also a concern that many special needs students are being placed on reduced timetables by schools. Such reductions in timetables should be used only in exceptional circumstances. This can be beneficial if seen in the context of supporting the full inclusion and reintegration of the child.

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