Josepha Madigan (Dublin Rathdown, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I am grateful for the opportunity to discuss this legislation and I have listened with interest to the contributions made by Members from all sides of the House. I believe almost 20 spoke. I appreciate that as I am sure does the Minister.

As Minister of State with responsibility for special education and inclusion, I am committed to making a difference for students who have special educational needs as part of an inclusive education system. Children with special education needs should be supported to access the education system. The Government fully recognises the importance of an inclusive and all-embracing education system. Never is it more important than in the case of children with special education needs. I fundamentally believe that the most vulnerable children in our society must be prioritised.

I have made it clear that I believe every single school should provide special education and that is where we need to get to as a society. I know we are not there yet and that is the reality facing some families in this country at the moment, but that is where we must get to. I believe we will get there. We have to as there is no other option.

Government policy on supporting children with special educational needs aims to ensure that all children with special needs can have access to an education appropriate to their needs. Our policy is to provide for inclusive education and to ensure the maximum possible integration of children with special needs into ordinary mainstream schools. Where pupils require more targeted interventions, special class or special school placements are also provided.

This year, the Government will spend in excess of €2 billion, or more than 25% of the Department's budget on providing additional teaching and care supports for children with special educational needs. This represents an increase of more than 60% in total expenditure since 2011. Where does that money go? It goes into increasing the number of special education teachers and SNAs. I thank them for all the fantastic work they do throughout the school year in teaching and caring for children with additional needs. It also goes into increasing special classes. These classes are vital in supporting the development and potential of children with special educational needs. The budget also goes into supporting special schools. Visiting these schools is an important part of my job.

I wish to discuss the recent progress in opening new classes in Dublin. In addition to the figures provided earlier, in recent weeks an additional eight primary schools have agreed to open special classes for September. This has reduced the number of children requiring a special class placement in Dublin from 80 to 56. We know that more placements will come on stream, hopefully in the coming weeks.

The NCSE estimates that approximately 50 children require a special school placement in the Dublin region for the coming school year. I am confident that initiatives being progressed by my Department and the NCSE will deliver the necessary special school placements on both the north side and south side in Dublin during the coming school year. I mention Dublin only because the NCSE has assured me that we have appropriate placements for every other child outside Dublin county and city. While these last two developments are welcome, we need to do more and that is why I believe this new legislation is so important.

I recently announced that I was initiating the section 37A process for a third time regarding the provision of special class places at primary and special school level in the Dublin region. As I have said before, I felt I was left with no other choice but to take substantive action. I believe this is a necessary step to try to ensure that every child gets the supports they need and access to a school placement. Obviously, all parties would prefer to see schools volunteer to provide more places rather than places being secured on the back of an order or a direction from the Minister. I have heard the contributions of Deputies today about resources which were mentioned on a number of occasions. It is really important that schools get the resources from the Department and the NCSE to allow them to open special classes. I will make sure that is done.

I am particularly glad about the provision in the new section 37A in this Bill that ensures any work carried out by the NCSE in preparing a report under the existing section 37A process can carry forward and be regarded as a report for the purposes of the new section 37A. The section 37 process is one of the tools available to me as Minister of State with responsibility for special education to ensure that adequate suitable education provision is made for children with special needs and it is not a substitute for advance planning.

I am also glad to include section 67 of the Education Act in the Bill. This provides a power to the NCSE to designate a school place for an individual child in a special class or special school. It makes complete sense to commence section 67 as the NCSE is best placed to know about the students who need special school and special class places. It has also already worked with the schools directly to open these places.

Some Deputies also mentioned the support available to schools that open a special class. Where schools open a new special class, the Department’s planning and building unit can arrange a technical site visit to schools, as appropriate, to confirm the suitability of the classroom to support the establishment of special classes.

Additional staff are sanctioned in respect of new classes, generally one teacher and two SNAs at primary level and 1.5 teachers and two SNAs at post-primary level for each new class. In addition, the NCSE provides a range of supports to schools that open new special classes including: a seminar for principals; a four-day intensive training course for teachers; a two-day training course for new teachers; whole staff training; and linking the school with an NCSE adviser.

The legislation is of immediate benefit in the short term for the provision of places for September 2022. I thank all the Deputies who contributed to the debate and for sharing their views on this important legislation. No doubt this debate will continue as the Bill progresses on to Committee Stage next week.

I also thank stakeholders and the special education consultative forum in particular. This is made up of parents and advocacy groups who are working with the Department to ensure that children with special educational needs can access education placements appropriate to their needs. I am very aware that listening to the voice of parents and those representing children with disabilities is essential to ensure that what we deliver meets the needs of the children.

I look forward to seeing this urgent legislation progressing over the coming weeks, being enacted and being available as another measure to ensure that we can continue to work to plan and provide an adequate number of special class and special school places for children.

See this speech in context