Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Aontú)

Cuirim fáilte roimh an rún seo agus roimh an iarracht rochtain a fháil ar oideachas le haghaidh gach uile pháiste sa tír. Is é an t-oideachas ceann de na cearta is tábhachtaí sa tír seo. One of the key objectives of the Proclamation of the Republic is to cherish all the children of the nation equally. An education is one of the most important rights that exist in society. Education facilitates the growth and development of children but it also helps them reach their full potential. Yet, we have a situation in this Republic where not all children have equal access to education. Not all children are treated equally, and indeed some children are being excluded from the education system. I stated in a contribution earlier that this is no country for young children and it is certainly not a country for many children with additional needs. Many children are being locked out of the education system and the figures the Government is giving us are not even specifying exactly how many children are actually in class at the moment. The figures we are getting are misleading. I read reports today that some principals are being told to accept children in their mainstream schools and they will get support in terms of SNAs, etc, down the track. Here we are in the third week of September and some of these children who are supposed to be in class have not seen the inside of a class yet. I am reading of another eight-year-old child who has never been to school. His mother has gone looking for a school in every single part of the county with no success. Shockingly, the State has no entity to even follow up why this child is not in school yet.

Aontú has asked questions repeatedly as to how many children have been suspended or expelled from school just because they have additional needs. In my town I have a constituent. He is in senior infants. He has been repeatedly suspended from school and is being threatened with expulsion. He is waiting for an assessment of needs. The schools simply cannot handle him. He has been left without a diagnosis and a treatment and is being deprived of the right to an education. He is just a small child and he is being excluded from school at this stage. I believe families are being broken by this Government. Many of them, especially those who have children with round-the-clock needs are being left abandoned. Many cannot get carer's allowance due to the high qualification threshold for assistance. They cannot get treatment or support for the children due to the lack of diagnosis and the waiting list for assessments of need. They cannot get respite and these parents are left so physically exhausted they are finding it hard even to struggle to ask for help. The figures included in this motion are shocking. There were 260 children as of June who did not have an offer of a school place. We know that due to building works in some areas, a further 168 children will in reality not have an offer of a classroom. We do not know the number of children whose parents are homeschooling them at the moment because of the lack of places that exist in schools. Figures we received also show there are 117 vacancies in CDNTs across the country. In CHO 1 there has been a drop of 22% in the area of therapy in the last year. The HSE is the largest employer of CDNTs, but 44% of those staff places are vacant at the moment. Some 43% of all psychologist posts are currently vacant. In one CHO area it is incredibly 62%. Children are being radically failed by this Government. Even the most basic right, the right to education is being taken away from them and that has to change.

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