Paul Murphy (Dublin South West, Solidarity)

What we have had tonight from the Government is a display of gaslighting par excellence. It is incredible and really cynical, because the audience is not the children who are affected. It is not the parents in the Gallery because the Minister of State knows they know that a school place does not necessarily equal a school place. The audience is the public who are concerned and think it is horrifying that there are children with additional needs who do not have appropriate school places. The message to them is not to worry, all bar a small handful of children in Dublin have been placed for this school year, when the truth is it appears the problem is even worse this year than last year. We had a motion in the Dáil this time last year, which referred to 120 children then without an appropriate school place. The Government is now saying all bar a small handful, but the Minister of State and everyone here knows that it is playing with words. Thanks to the amazing activist parents in the Equality in Education campaign we know that for 206 children, at least, being placed for this school year in reality means being offered a place that does not physically exist either because it has not been built yet or has not been staffed yet. The Minister of State had a great euphemism earlier talking about how for some children, there is a delay to the start of their school year due to construction work. A delay for some until November and for others until March or April. At what point does an education delayed equal an education denied for these children? On top of that, there are 96 children who have no offer whatsoever. Of them, 42 are at home with no home tuition and no preschool. We need an end to the spin. Give us the honest figures so we can see just how many children are left without appropriate places. The Government likes to say it is doing everything it can. The last issue I raised with the Taoiseach before the summer recess was this. He told me they were going to work might and main to make sure every child has an appropriate school place by September, but is that true? I am not talking about the personal effort of the Minister of State. I accept that. However, there are different decisions the Government could make. It could double capital funding for the school building programme. It could lift the ridiculous SNA cap and immediately begin a mass SNA recruitment campaign. It could fast-track training and upskilling of special education teachers. It could engage in a genuine way with the parents, who are telling us the true story from the ground and who are the real experts on this.

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