Holly Cairns (Cork South West, Social Democrats) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the opportunity to speak about special education. I thank Sinn Féin for bringing forward this motion. I receive correspondence every week, as does everyone in this House, from parents fighting and struggling to get their children the education and secure the supports they need. The systems in place simply are not good enough. There are nowhere near enough special schools, school therapists, SNAs or ASD classes. If children are lucky enough to receive the supports they need in primary school, their parents have to start the whole fight all over again once their child enters secondary school. This is a problem across the country. There is a complete absence of forward planning. Primary and secondary schools seem to operate in completely separate bubbles, instead of being able to work together to predict and plan for the supports children in primary school now will need in secondary school. They do not co-operate in that way, which is, frankly, incredible. These are the absolute basics, and they are just not happening.

I spoke to a mother of twin daughters last week about how this is impacting on them. One of the twins has Down's syndrome and has had a full-time SNA in mainstream primary school since both girls were in junior infants. The twins have been in the same school since they were born. Having spent all that time together throughout their whole life, to find out now that one twin will be able to start in the mainstream secondary school while the other is on a waiting list has come as a real blow to them. One of the girls showed me a picture she had drawn of both of them together with the word "forever" written on it. The thought of these twins being separated is a difficult one. As I said, one of the girls is entitled to a place and the other is on a waiting list. We know that for children with additional needs, the transition to secondary school can take years and be really difficult. Getting children prepared and comfortable with the move is important. They need to know exactly what the move will involve and when it will happen in order to prepare. Now this child may be separated from her twin and all the classmates they have both grown up with, all because there does not seem to be any forward planning.

It is just not good enough for schools only to consider the needs of children who apply in October for the following September. Children are being failed by this every day around the country. It is beyond comprehension that the secondary and primary school systems cannot seem to speak to each other about the needs of their students, starting from junior infants. There are so many years to plan for this. A secondary school in west Cork has one place open in an ASD unit. Six children in the local area need a place, all of whom attended the local primary school and were in ASD classes. Now it seems they will have to travel to secondary schools outside their catchment area because the ASD classes are full.

I stress that neither of these cases is in any way, shape or form the fault of the schools involved. I have visited those schools and seen at first hand the absolute drive and passion the teachers and principals have for special education. I have seen how hard they fundraise, how much they value inclusivity and diversity and what they have put into their provision of special classes and ASD classes. They are accommodating children from outside the county at the moment. The Department's policies just do not help schools to provide all the children who need support with that support. Likewise, the policy regarding SENOs is not helping schools.

I have been in contact in recent weeks with a huge number of parents from Fermoy Educate Together National School, which was mentioned, where the lack of physical space has reached a crisis point. There is huge demand for non-denominational schools across the country as a result of the complete failure by this Government and previous Governments to deliver school divestment. Fermoy Educate Together National School is now in a position whereby children are being educated in corridors and the staffroom because there is such a lack of space. This not only damages the standard of education the school is able to provide. It is also a health and safety risk, a fire hazard and a cause of complete sensory overload for many of the children.

The school was given the go ahead to open an ASD class but it does not have the physical space to do so. I was contacted by parents whose children are in the process of being assessed for ASD and are now facing the prospect of having to withdraw their children from Fermoy Educate Together National School and put them into a religious school. They do not want to do that. They want to send their child to a secular school but that choice is being taken away from them.

The school was located in the basement of a Department of Education building that the ETB currently occupies.

It was clear from the beginning that the allocated space was never going to be adequate for the 104 students in the divestment agreement. My understanding is that the ETB is refusing to provide the school with any further space in the building and that the Department could not offer the school a single helpful suggestion on where to go from there. Now the school, ETB and neighbouring sports clubs are being pitted against each other to fight for space and it is entirely the fault of the Department of Education and the lack of planning. What will be done here? What will the Department do to ensure these children receive the space they need to be educated safely, so the school can open a desperately needed ASD class? Every response I receive from the office of the Minister, Deputy Foley, is seemingly placing the blame on school enrolment numbers rather than the completely inadequate building provided by the Department.

It is entirely unhelpful and counterproductive for the Department to make life harder for schools around the country which are just trying to provide the best possible quality of education to all their students. I will again point to the absolutely shameful changes to the special education teaching allocations earlier this year as further evidence of this. The decision by the Department of Education to completely remove children with additional needs as a criteria for the allocation of special education teaching hours is dangerous and makes no sense at all. The purpose of SET hours is to provide extra teaching supports to children who require additional supports in schools. For years, these hours have been allocated based on a combination of factors, including the number of children with complex needs in a school. However, from September, they will be assigned based on standardised test results and enrolment numbers. By tying a loss of SET hours to standardised test results, schools are effectively being punished for improving literacy and numeracy rates.

I will read a quote from a local principal to the Southern Star, my local paper, which summarises the situation. It states:

[He] said the government was not catering for children with additional needs or ‘education, full stop’.

"This measure will force parents’ hands, into putting their children into special classes or ASD units, instead of integrated education. It's taking that choice from them," the principal said.

"We were down two-and-a-half set hours last year, and it's the same this year, which effectively means we’re down a full day. This country is supposed to be flush with cash, but in this day and age, we shouldn't have to fight for something like this. Funding for primary schools has been cut across the board. Yes, there are free school books, but there's no funding to keep the lights on in schools – primary education system is on its knees."

Funding for primary education is becoming increasingly unsustainable. Principals from all across west Cork have raised major concerns with me about the recent allocation of the ancillary grant. The rate given to schools this year will not even pay for the cleaner, never mind caretaking fees, so they will have to use school funds, which were so hard to raise in the first place, just to keep the school clean. Grants are not keeping up with inflation, the cost of utility and insurance bills. The focus this year seems to be on hot school lunches, which to be clear, I fully support and welcome, but many schools cannot even afford textbooks at the moment, much less for the school to be cleaned.

Cuts have been coming at schools from every side and costs continue to rise. Schools are going into debt and they need financial assistance. They should not be reliant on fundraising to pay for basic equipment that is needed to effectively deliver the school curriculum. They should not be reliant on fundraising and hard-fought campaigns by parents to increase access to special education. The common thread again and again when it comes to special education and disability services across the board is the unacceptable expectation on parents to fight the State for every scrap of support for their children. Every other parent I speak to who is struggling to get a school place for their child with additional needs has been already fighting with schools, the SENO and the NCSE. Why should they have to? Why does this Government force parents and carers to spend time, energy, which people do not always have in these situations, and money to fight for support to which their children are entitled?

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