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

I commend the motion and thank People Before Profit and Solidarity for bringing it forward. It is a comprehensive motion and this is a matter that has been discussed time and again here by different groups bringing it forward, yet nothing seems to change and nothing seems to improve. The Government seems to have this approach of reacting to a crisis instead of proactive planning to address the issues.

There has been quite a lot of discussion on securing appropriate school placements here. It beggars belief why this happens year after year and why there are insufficient school places for children. There are children going to preschools who go there for two years, sometimes three. They are in the AIM programme, so it is identified already that they have additional needs and need support. There needs to be better communication between the preschools and the primary schools. We need to see the NCSE engaging with parents and with the preschools at that stage and able to advise them on appropriate school placements in the children's communities such that when the children go to primary school, if they are lucky enough to get appropriate school placements in their communities, they spend eight years in those placements, the principal and the teachers in those schools know precisely what those children's needs are and what supports they require and, again, they have eight years to ensure appropriate post-primary school places in the community for those children. Yet every August we hear from distraught parents who have applied to up to 20 schools to face refusal after refusal, with no appropriate school placement, or the children are bussed miles away to find placements. It is not fair on the children and not fair on the families. The NCSE should be dealing with this. I do not know if it is a case of under-resourcing. We need more SENOs, perhaps, to engage with all the different families and the children who have additional needs.

When I was teaching, I used to engage with a SENO and she knew every child within her catchment area. She was regularly in contact with the children's families. The families had her phone number. They could lift the phone and talk to her. I talk to parents all the time and say to them, "Have you been in touch with your SENO?" They ask me, "What is that?" They do not know what a SENO is or they have no contact. That is not good enough. We need much better communication between all the different aspects of education and with the NCSE and then, obviously, with the parents.

Prior to the introduction of the progressing disabilities programme, special schools had therapists attached to them and it was so beneficial. Not only were the therapists dealing with and helping the children; the staff in the schools were learning from the therapists and the different approaches they were taking to dealing with the children. Those therapists were withdrawn. In some cases they have been returned. It just beggars belief why a pilot programme is needed in special schools when therapists worked in them at one time. The benefits are unquestionable, and we need to see therapists back in schools. In fact, we need to see them not just in the special schools but also in our mainstream schools. There was a very good pilot programme run in, I think, CHO 7 called the school inclusion model. It seemed to work very well. The therapists were put into the schools to work with them. I do not know if a proper evaluation of that pilot has been carried out or, if so, if it has been extended. I think there were plans to extend it, but it is a model that needs to be extended to all our schools, especially those which have autism classes or special classes attached to them to support the students in those settings.

Not a week goes past that I do not have contact from a parent about engagement with a CDNT. In Cavan, the CDNT has a vacancy rate of 60% while in Monaghan it is 40%. I think it is over 30% if we take the whole country. Therapists are leaving because it is just a horrible place to work as they are not getting to do their job within the CDNT because they are constantly dealing with - and they do not blame them - irate parents coming to them looking for services for their children or looking for assessments of need. Almost 10,000 children are overdue an assessment of need at this stage. More than 9,000 children are awaiting their initial contact with a CDNT. This is at crisis point and needs to be addressed. What we have are therapists leaving the CDNTs and going into private practice. Then the HSE pays them big money to carry our private assessments. It does not make any sense. They should be working within the public sector. Why are they not? We need to address that point. Is it pay? Section 39 pay parity still has not been addressed. I am not saying that is the only issue; it is one of them. Conditions within the CDNTs are another, as is proper support. I had a parent in contact with me this week. When her child was 18 months old, she requested an assessment. She still has not received that assessment. The child is now four. That is not fair.

I realise I am going over my time. This needs to be addressed, and I fully support the motion.

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