Pauline Tully (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Sinn Féin is committed to making sure our education system is inclusive and accessible for all children and types of learners. We are committed to ensuring that every student has the opportunity to thrive and reach their full potential in a supportive, inclusive and equitable learning environment. Currently, many barriers exist to inclusivity within our education system, for example, measures such as short school days, reduced timetables and permanent exclusion from school. According to the census of 2022, the level of education completed by disabled people was substantially lower than that of non-disabled people, with disabled people twice as likely to only have primary school education, and that level increases the greater the level of disability. More must be done to ensure that children with additional educational needs are supported to participate as equal and valued members within educational settings and wider society.

Article 24 of the UNCRPD, which Ireland ratified in 2018, places obligations on the Government to ensure that people with disabilities are not excluded from education on the basis of disability and can access education on an equal basis with others. However, the present strategy from the Government seems to be to only react to crises. What is needed is planning, not reacting – that is, advanced planning to guarantee sufficient and appropriate school places for children with additional educational needs within their communities and adequate funding to implement this. Currently, parents are applying to anything up to 20 schools for places for their child and they can receive 20 refusals. This is soul-destroying for everybody involved. The parent of a child contacted me recently. Her child is only in third class and the parent is already worrying about where she will find an appropriate school placement for her child. She should not have to worry three or four years out from second level.

At present, the primary legislation governing education for persons with disabilities is the Education for Persons with Special Educational Needs Act 2004, the EPSEN Act. While the EPSEN Act was passed in 2004 to ensure that children with additional educational needs could be educated in an inclusive setting, 20 years later, many find the important sections of the Act have not been implemented. For example, the Act included a requirement for individual education plans, IEPs. I am aware that many teachers prepare IEPs for their students but it is neither compulsory nor inspected. To this end, with my colleagues Deputies Guirke and Ó Laoghaire, I introduced the Education (Inspection of Individual Education Plans for Children with Special Needs) Bill 2022. The purpose of that Bill was to ensure this section of the EPSEN Act would be implemented as soon as possible. It would also amend the Education Act 1998 to grant additional functions to the inspector to examine and report to the Minister on the prevalence and standard of IEPs for children with additional educational needs annually, and provide for related matters. My colleague and Sinn Féin spokesperson on education, Deputy Sorca Clarke, has also introduced the Education (Inclusion of Persons) Bill 2023, the purpose of which is to provide for enhanced planning and co-ordination in regard to school planning areas, and to make it a requirement for school management boards to consider how to support children with additional educational needs and for board members to undertake training in disability rights. It would also amend and extend the Education Act 1998, provide for the inclusion of information from special educational needs organisers in school planning, provide for inclusion policies in schools and recognise disabled persons organisations through a role in agreeing the composition of the board of management of the school.

The EPSEN Act is currently being reviewed, which I welcome. However, it was drafted to operate in a joined-up way with Part 2 of the Disability Act. The National Disability Authority and many other disability organisations and DPOs have advised that the outcome of the EPSEN review may also have implications for the operation of Part 2 of the Disability Act and have suggested a review of the Disability Act should take place in tandem. The Government should take this advice on board.

We still do not have a consistent approach to school placements where parents do not have to pay to have their children privately assessed to secure a placement in an autism class or special school. This is placing unnecessary pressure on parents who cannot afford private assessments and is placing them at a disadvantage to other parents who can afford to pay for these assessments. The absence of such a process is also placing increased pressure on the children's disability network teams. These teams are seriously understaffed and are currently unable to cope with the numbers on their waiting lists. I am contacted by parents weekly about access to the CDNTs. There is a mixture of distress, anger and frustration. We have got to the stage where the CDNTs are not providing any information on children transitioning from primary to secondary school, which is why the complex needs aspect was removed from the SET hours going into schools, given they no longer have the information. I recall that when I was teaching, I got vital information on students who were coming into the second level school from the child development team, as it was at the time. That is greatly missed as it was very important information to help students to transition in a secure way.

The Minister of State, Deputy Rabbitte, has indicated there is a recruitment drive for CDNT staff and that many interviews are taking place. We hope that this will work and alleviate the huge number on the waiting lists. Nonetheless, it is evident from the case of the CDNTs that proper planning was not undertaken prior to the launch of the CDNTs.

On a positive note, and to highlight something that does seem to be working, the school inclusion model that is currently at pilot stage has great potential for driving inclusion in schools. This model is based on the principle of providing the right support at the right time delivered by a range of personnel with relevant qualifications and skill sets, and building the capacity of participating schools in order that they can support the inclusion of all children, particularly those with additional educational needs. From what I hear from the NCSE, the model has worked well in the schools where it has been piloted. The biggest difficulty has been getting staff. This is because it is a pilot scheme and, therefore, there was a lack of permanency around the positions. That needs to change. This model needs to be properly assessed and rolled out on a national basis as soon as possible. We need the Government to get on with doing that.

The summer programmes are vital for disabled and autistic children, especially the school-based programme. Along with my colleagues on the Joint Committee on Autism, I met with many groups and parents who have lived experience of the programme. They told us of the devastation they experienced when their children did not get access. Priority access to the school-based programme is essential for children with autism and additional educational needs. Such a programme provides an opportunity for them to be part of a world outside their home and it gives them access to school facilities such as sensory and occupational therapy rooms and secure play areas. The home-based programme is good, but it is not an appropriate alternative for a many children.

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