Joan Collins (Dublin South Central, Independents 4 Change) | Oireachtas source

The State has failed to provide special needs school places in their local area to every child who needs them. It has also failed to provide the resources to ensure those rights are vindicated properly in schools. More trained staff, sensory rooms, equipment and access therapists are needed. One third of vacancies are in the CDNTs that were set up, we were told, to get over the problems faced in other areas, like the CHOs and so on, and that has failed. We were also told by the NCSE last Tuesday at the Joint Committee on Autism that approximately one third of its vacancies are for therapists and supports. The council is being impacted in the same way so that it cannot provide the services that are necessary. We know this from reports from schools in my own area that are trying to access services to come to the school and support them where they need assistance. Without that support, children are being sent home from school because the school cannot support them in the way they should be supported. That is a failing as well from that point of view.

However, I welcome that this is being brought through. It has been brought to the Dáil today as a result of the pressure of another 100 children or more potentially being unable to access places in schools. We do not know whether it is going to have a big impact in the next three months but there should always be co-operation between the schools, the Department of Education, the NCSE, the Minister and Ministers of State, parents, teachers and principals to ensure services are provided to the schools, such as mainstream posts, classes and special school places. For example, I tabled a parliamentary question to the Minister regarding Our Lady of Hope School on Armagh Road, Crumlin because it does not appear to have set up a board of management. That is a problem there. As far as I am aware, it was supposed to let the Minister know if there is no board of management or if it cannot set one up. That is a difficulty for parents if they want to intervene and play a role in supporting the school as well as for the teachers and SNAs there. There are many problems we must try to resolve here but I support the legislation. I welcome it and think it can, and will, play a role in the future. However, it is one part of the process and from speaking to parents, resources are the most important part of it.

It has been mentioned that the Ombudsman for Children said the Department is failing our children. There are black spots, notably in Dublin and Cork. He also said the system can fail in its response but that such failings occur is not acceptable. His report estimates as many as 15,500 children must travel outside their local school catchment area every day to access a school place. Meanwhile, 1,500 students are receiving home tuition, which the report recommends should only be used temporarily and as a last resort. The Ombudsman goes on to say approximately 4,000 children are currently waiting for a diagnostic assessment to qualify for a school place in the first instance. How many children, therefore, have not had their assessment and are waiting for a school place that we do not know of? These children need to be given access to a psychologist via the available State services to establish whether they need a special class or a school place in the short term. The ombudsman then said the decentralised nature of our education system means it is largely up to individual schools to decide whether they will provide school places for children needs. He states there is a "need to recalibrate the balance between central Government oversight of education and schools' autonomy".

I wanted to cite that to back up what I am going to raise now. I sent the legislation over to the support groups in my constituency to see what they had to say about it and they came back to me with their assessment. The Dublin 12 Autism Support Group said:

We welcomed this step as a more streamlined process with prompt timelines between the Ministers Department corresponding with schools. Currently the 37a process is a long winded one and the longer the time spent with paperwork the longer there are children without appropriate school placement.

It's our view that improving the 37a process should also involve improved supports to schools to encourage & support them adequately and not getting the school to open classes as a tick the box exercise which appears to be the current system at least in the last few years.

To do this, the group says schools need proper resources :

Trained Staff

Sensory rooms & equipment

Access to therapists.

Secure outdoor areas

[A previous speaker said that once you get into the system you get the service you need; that is absolutely not the case.]

Support the school throught the year and for the dept of ed to respond to schools in a timely fashion.

For forward future planning it is great to have a 5 year forecast but it's pointless when you have no data for all autistic children weather it is special schools, classes or mainstream.

The Ncse & the Department need to ensure the primary school mainstream children with AEN are to included in the planning of secondary schools.

This is failure we might be facing in the next year or two because that is the situation we are facing in Dublin 12.

D12 Campaign for Inclusion stated:

Our lady of hope Needs a behaviour therapist for september we can not continue to expand the school with no onsite therapists.

We have 17 primary schools & 8 secondary schools in Dublin 12.

Of the 17 primary schools in Dublin 12, 11 currently have an ASD Special class or an Early intervention class or both.

There are 6 primary schools with no autism classes. Two are in the process of building works in order to open an autism class and that leaves 4 schools with no classes.

There are 8 secondary schools in the area, 4 have autism classes with some schools who have 2 classes in their buildings.

In Dublin 12, there are now three Early Intervention Classes, thirteen Autism Classes at primary level, and six Autism Classes at secondary level. This results in 18 Early Intervention places, 78 primary level places and 36 secondary level places, for a total of 132 places.

The campaign finishes off by making an appeal to the Minister and the CEO of the NCSE, Mr. John Kearney, " to finish our area & use D12 as an example to mirror. We want each school to open a class with proper training & supports". Since the opening of Our Lady of Hope School the campaign feels it has been left behind a little bit.

If these schools were resourced with the proper mainstream classes etc., with the resources, it would make a significant difference and would be an example of how the system could work.

I also got reply from Involve Autism D6/D6w, which made a some very important points. Its response stated:

What is proposed in the Bill and the current non-streamlined system regarding the collection of information from the SENO, parents etc., is not a robust manner in which to collect accurate data in relation to the demand for classes and appropriate placements. NCSE need to maintain a centralised system to support applications for enrolment, for data collection, for planning and reporting and to support appropriate child placement...

Any room in the area approach = More kids leaving their community

Are "area wide" reports are appropriate? The South Dublin "area wide" approach was a disaster for some areas, as the same communities and schools came forward, while others did not. This has resulted in more children on taxis and buses out of their communities. As an example South Dublin transport costs for children with disabilities this year has been €72,704 every day, an increase of 15% on the previous year at €63,579.

The 37A process yielded little for D6/D6w and the surrounding areas of South Dublin, e.g. D14, D16, D18 and DLR will these now be focused on as large established non DEIS schools should be the schools that are asked to open classes in the first instance. Schools who have an established AEN infrastructure should be the ones that are focused on firstly to open classes thus ensuring that children can attend their local schools in their local community.

It continues to cover a few other things about parental advocacy and enrolment policies.

This feedback is more important than our own voices and our interpretation of it. It this is coming from the actual parents themselves who are actively involved in trying to get the places and resources for their children. I welcome that the legislation is coming through. I will support it with progressive amendments proposed by different parties. I thank the Minister of State for staying in the Chamber for the time it has taken to debate the Bill.

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