Jen Cummins (Dublin South Central, Social Democrats)

In recent months, since the Government was formed, there have been announcements about additional school places for children and young people with additional educational needs, be it in special classes in mainstream schools or in special schools. There have been promises that special education will improve. I know the Minister of State and his officials are trying their best in every way to ensure that happens. This is very welcome.

I find it very hard to understand that elements of the EPSEN Act, which was introduced in 2004 - 21 years ago - are not fully commenced. I refer specifically to the right to an educational assessment for children with special educational needs; consequent development of statutory individual education plans, IEPs; the delivery of a detailed educational service on foot of the IEP, and an independent appeals process. I find it very hard to believe that after 21 years we have still not commenced parts of the Act. How many hundreds and thousands of children and young people have gone through the education system in those 21 years and have not been supported and protected by the Act? Is this perhaps a scandal that we will look back on in decades to come? I hope we are able to rectify that now. We have a responsibility to every single child in this country.

I welcome some special guests in the Gallery: Debbie O'Neill and her colleagues from a special school in my constituency of Dublin South-Central, Scoil Eoin. It is a school that supports children with mild general learning disabilities.

I have been raising the issue of redesignation for some weeks. I plead with the Minister of State to reconsider it. I have raised the alarm here and in the committee. We must check what we are doing with schools. I accept he says the children currently in the school will not be affected, which is great, but children are coming up who will be affected. He said last week at the committee that he would look at it. Perhaps a bit of a pause is needed for us to see where we can go with that. I look forward to hearing more about what exactly that looks like.

The rights of the child provide that educational reforms should prioritise children's well-being and safety, recognising that these are enablers of children's educational progress. This also applies to children with mild general learning disabilities. It is not their fault that the Department of education has not forward planned to make sure there are enough places for children with additional educational needs for this September or any subsequent year. I know the Minister of State wants to have catch-all schools but that is fundamentally a mistake. Those working in the schools also feel that, as do the parents. More and more people are speaking against that now.

We must look at the rights of every individual child. We are not talking about millions of people. To be honest, I do not know the number of children in the system, but it is thousands rather than millions. Every single child in the country counts. We must ensure we give them the best education we can. That includes, for example, the proper allocation of SNAs and initial teacher education. I welcome that there is going to be better initial teacher education, but there also needs to be continuing professional development, CPD, and fully trained therapists in schools to support children.

In this country, schools like those for children with mild general learning disabilities are experts at making sure that children progress to the best of their ability and way beyond, because they have got specialist care. It is the same for children who have more complex needs because, when there are experts involved, they will also thrive. We must ensure that every child will reach his or her full potential to learn, grow and thrive.

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