Eoin Ó Broin (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein)

In the 11 years I have been an elected representative in Dublin Mid-West, every single year as the school term approaches, my office receives calls from desperate parents who do not believe their child will have a school place come September. This year has been no different. The parents do not come to us at the start of that battle, but near the end. They have spent months or, in some cases, years battling for those places.

The key problems remain the same today as when I started in this job. We simply do not have enough places in our schools and where there are places, there is a lack of follow-on places. Despite the fact that we know the number of children with additional needs in junior schools, there is not adequate planning to ensure they have appropriate places moving through senior school or into secondary school. The delays in building new schools, units or extensions are extraordinary. It is six, seven or eight years in some cases. Lucan Special School and Saint Mary's Boys School in Lucan are just two of the schools where there are ongoing delays.

When parents and their children finally secure places, there are real question marks about the adequacy of those places. That is no criticism of the teachers, principals or SNAs. In many cases, the schools are too far from where the parents are; school transport is not provided or is then withdrawn; or the conditions in which the teachers, SNAs and the young children get their education are wholly inappropriate.

In the most recent case I had, the mother battled for over a year. It was only last week, some weeks after the school term started, that she finally secured a place. The thing she said to me that really struck home was the lack of any support or adequate information and communication as she battled for a very basic need for her child.

The issue is very simple: the 1916 Proclamation promised to cherish the children of the nation equally, yet every single year the Government is failing children. It is time to stop. That is why we have tabled this motion. I commend the motion to the House.

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