Paul Murphy (Dublin South West, RISE) | Oireachtas source

I move amendment No. 1:

To insert the following after "counter to the agenda of equality and inclusion":

", and ensure no school will receive any reduction in the allocation of resources in September 2024, than they had in September 2023;

— ensure that the National Council for Special Education allocate additional resources to ensure adequate numbers of Special Educational Needs Officers are allocated and dedicated to support the transition from Early Years Education (EYE) to Primary, from Primary to Secondary, and from Secondary to adulthood; and

— ensure that funding is provided to guarantee continuity of supports for all children with Special Educational Needs through transitions from EYE to Primary, from Primary to Secondary, and from Secondary to adulthood.".

It was infuriating listening to the Taoiseach and Minister speak on this issue earlier. Butter would not melt in their mouths as they said that no cuts were happening here, telling people that €30 is the same as €45. When is a cut not a cut when it is being done by the Government to kids with special needs? It is scandalous that the Government will not admit it and will not make the argument for the cuts. It will just continue to try to deny the cuts and suggest that those who are pointing it out and arguing against it are in some way misleading people. Special needs provision in this country continues to be a disgrace. It is welcome that we are discussing this motion. The Minister and Government should hang their heads in shame at what they do in forcing families to struggle daily. We have all been out canvassing. We have met many people and the issue comes up again and again. For all those people, it is understandably a dominant issue. They are struggling to get what their kids absolutely need.

Summer provision obviously needs to be significantly improved. Kids with special needs are excluded from summer provision in schools and unable to access private summer camps. We know that thousands and thousands of parents in this country are forced to shell out hundreds of euro over the summer for private summer camps because of the absence of universal, affordable public childcare. Parents of kids with special needs do not even have that option because taking kids with special needs would not be as profitable for those private providers. What we need is obvious. It is a 100% State-funded, publicly-run system of inclusive summer provision that caters for all children, including children with special needs. That should not be too much to ask for.

In Tallaght, as around the country, there are many kids with special needs who qualify for the two weeks of July provision only to find out that no teachers or SNAs are available to provide it. One woman told me that her grandson was last able to access summer provision in his own school two years ago. Last year, he was forced to do home tuition instead after a long search for a teacher. It is incredible that, in 2024, the State puts the responsibility on parents to find a special needs teacher for their children. Imagine if that was how our schools in general operated. There would be uproar. Why should it be different for children with special needs?

We know the reason it is so difficult to find special education teachers. It is the same reason it is difficult to find teachers in general. The housing and cost-of-living crisis are particularly bad in Dublin, where rents and house prices are higher, but no cost-of-living allowance is provided. The Government has done nothing to tackle the recruitment and retention crisis for teachers, which has been going on for years at this time. Every year, there are hundreds of unfilled teaching posts across the country, resulting in cancelled classes, subjects being dropped, and a severe lack of special education teachers. According to ASTI, there are 122,000 registered teachers, but only 70,000 of them are employed in teaching jobs in this country. It is no mystery why that is the case, when there is a policy of offering only part-time hours to new entrants, combined with the housing and cost-of-living crisis. The result is emigration of people who could be teaching here.

In the midst of this, rather than increasing wages for teachers and increasing funding to schools, the Government is actually making cuts. It is cutting the capitation payment for summer provision from €45 a week to €30 and cutting the special needs allocation for one in three schools. None of this is necessary. It is a cruel policy choice by a Government and Department with an instinct to always penny-pinch when it comes to essential public services. Ordinary people notice the contrast with a Government that is fláthúlach when it comes to landlords, businesses and property developers looking for money. They note that the Government has a €6.5 million surplus and chooses to leave billions on deposit in so-called rainy day funds instead of investing.

Our amendment does a number of things.

It seeks to ensure no school receives any reduction in the allocation of resources, that additional resources to ensure adequate numbers of special educational needs officers, SENOs, are allocated and dedicated to support transition from early years education to and from primary to secondary, and that there is continuity of supports for all children all the way through education. That last point is vital because, with this Government, there is no joined-up thinking. A child who may have adequate special needs provision and assessment in preschool loses that and has to start from square one when he or she enters primary school. It makes no sense whatsoever. Assessment and supports should follow the child as he or she progresses through education. We should not force parents and schools to go through layers and layers of bureaucracy.

Before I finish, I want to raise the case again of Sam Lewis, a non-verbal autistic child who has had applications for a secondary school place rejected at 15 different schools. This is a case that has already been raised at least twice in the Dáil. It has been in the media. There was a protest by Sam's parents at the Department of Education. They met with the National Council for Special Education, NCSE, but nothing has happened for them. They have got reassurance, but nothing has happened. It is time for action for Sam.

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