Jimmy Deenihan (Kerry North, Fine Gael)
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Recently, I received a letter from the board of management, parents council, staff and principal of St. Ita's and St. Joseph's School, Balloonagh, Tralee, and I will read the contents of the letter into the record:

The Board of Management, Parents Council, staff and Principal of the above school are deeply concerned at the delay currently experienced by graduates from the school in being offered places for further education and training in the Kerry area. We regard this delay is as an unnecessary source of stress on the students and their parents; as this seems to be an annual problem we urge those involved to adequately fund the various service providers so that a seamless transition from school to further education and training can take place. As the number of students involved in the transition from school is generally low (10/12) we believe this issue should be addressed by the H.S.E. to avoid the stress, confusion and delay presently experienced by the students and their parents.

I also received an e-mail from concerned parents on behalf of their son which states: "Our son had been accepted for a place in Kerry Parents and Friends, Listowel. We went to the Kerry Parents and Friends AGM last week. The chief executive stated there was no funding for school leavers for 2009." It was also pointed out there was a shortfall of 1.4 million for the Kerry Cork area. The parents were subsequently told by the manager with responsibility for intellectual disability in the HSE south region that there were approximately 96 people with no placement for September. This is certainly a disgrace. The e-mail continues:

At this moment we do not know where James will be in September. This is quite stressful for us going into the summer. James had 12 wonderful years in Nano Nagle school, Listowel which come to an end at the end of June.

There is a feeling of powerlessness at this stage because it is not known what will happen to James in September. The three schools most affected are Nano Nagle special school, Listowel, St. Ita's and St. Joseph's school, Tralee, and St. Francis school in Beaufort. The service-providers taking children from these schools are Kerry Parents and Friends centres in Listowel and Killarney, the National Learning Network in Tralee, which is funded by FÁS and has only four places available this year, and St. John of God. A total of 34 referrals have come from those three schools alone. The schools cannot keep them once they reach 18 years. This means that 34 young people who are now 18 years will have to leave education.

As a former Minister for Education and Science, Deputy Hanafin will know that the students will regress if not placed in a training or educational situation. It also places significant stress on their families. The parents may both be out working or the parent at home may have to provide continuous care. The centres have no capacity due to cutbacks. There is no flexibility nor additional capacity to facilitate these students.

I am aware that we are here at 8.15 p.m. in the evening and this Adjournment matter may not have much impact but if the service-providers are not given the adequate funding they require, I ask that an exception be made for the special schools to allow them keep pupils who are over 18 years for an additional year. It could be referred to as a transitional year in which the students could undertake work experience and other activities. This might be one way of helping them to overcome this problem.

The age of 18 is the cut-off point in special schools and this is wrong, especially if there is no other placement for the students. Children in mainstream education can stay on longer. If this situation was repeated for children in mainstream education there would be an outcry but nobody seems to be concerned about these children, who are special children. The parents do not know where their children will be going in September and nobody seems to care. This is a significant issue of blatant discrimination between parents of special children and parents of children in mainstream education. I look forward to the Minister's reply.

Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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I thank Deputy Deenihan for raising this matter and apologise on behalf of my colleague, the Minister for Education and Science, Deputy Batt O'Keeffe, who could not be present. I am pleased to have been given the opportunity by the Deputy to clarify the position with regard to the matter raised by him.

The Department of Education and Science funds post-school provision for young adults, including those with a disability, generally through multiple providers, which include universities, post-leaving certificate courses, vocational training centres and national learning networks. In addition, vocational educational committees provide grant assistance to some service-providers within the health service towards an education component of its provision through the co-operation hours scheme.

There are currently 23 vocational training centres and approximately 34 national learning network centres throughout the country. They provide a service to approximately 1,300 young adults with a disability. Two of these facilities are located in County Kerry. Young adults attending the vocational training centres typically have a diagnosis of mild or moderate general learning disability and are unsuited to open training centres. Participants must be under 25 and they attend for a maximum three years' duration. Department officials have contacted the Health Service Executive in the context of the Deputy's inquiry with regard to its responsibility for young adults with special educational needs who are over 18 years. The HSE has advised that approximately 30 school leavers have been identified by the Kerry occupational guidance service of the HSE for training and day-care places. The HSE is currently working with service-providers to ensure that the individuals in question have access to services in September 2009 in the context of the available funding. The HSE intends communicating with the individuals or their parents or guardians, as appropriate, within the next ten to 14 days, to confirm the arrangements for each individual for September.

People with disabilities may also avail of adult literacy courses provided by the VECs around the country. The Deputy may also be familiar with the back to education initiative which provides part-time further education programmes for adults to give them an opportunity to combine a return to learning with family, work and other responsibilities. People with disabilities are one of the target groups of the programme. The BTEI programme is a part-time initiative for learners who wish to pursue part-time or modular programmes. Under the BTEI, a programme may be offered for as little as one hour per week or as much as 17 hours per week, depending on the needs and demands of the prospective learners. It is recommended that programme duration for individual learners, class contact hours, not exceed 400 hours per annum, over a twelve-month period.

I thank the Deputy for giving me the opportunity to clarify the position with regard to the matter raised by him. I hope the issues are resolved shortly in the interests of those young people and their families.