Mick Wallace (Wexford, Independent)
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I thank the Ceann Comhairle for selecting this issue for debate. The Minister of State at the Department of Education and Skills, Deputy Ciarán Cannon, knows that the role of special needs assistants, SNAs, has evolved over the years. They play an extremely important part in the daily lives of children with special educational needs. The circular issued by the Department in April is trying to discourage this and ignore the day-to-day reality of how schools operate. It emphasises that a child with special educational needs is not automatically entitled to an SNA and that the scheme is aimed at children with “significant additional care needs”. The circular states that it should not be assumed that children who have special educational needs or a disability require the support of an SNA, and that, while professional reports provide an integral part of determining the extent of supports required for special needs pupils, health staff within the HSE have been instructed not to recommend references or the quantity of educational resources in their reports. The overall responsibility for the support and progress for pupils with behaviour-related care needs now lies with the classroom teacher. In addition, post-primary pupils will only be allocated SNA support in the case of chronic and serious need.

A Wexford mother, Jane Johnstone, who has two children with autism in Scoil Mhuire in Wexford and who is a long-time campaigner for the rights of those with disabilities, told me that the circular will have negative implications for children with special needs and the general population of children within our educational system. The SNA supports children with special needs to develop independent living skills, allowing them to grow to become as independent as their disability allows and provide access to our mainstream communities by supporting them to become the best they can be. Every child has the right to grow to his or her potential. It is unthinkable that Government policy would hinder rather than support progress in order to redress an ongoing economic crisis in which our children played no part.

Colm Keaveney (Galway East, Fianna Fail)
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I acknowledge the presence of the Minister of State. He was passionate about this area prior to having the honour of being elected to this House. I am confident he is familiar with the details of a report which reveals the number of children being left behind within the system. Schools have been forced to implement ad hocarrangements for children who need adequate supports, particularly resource teaching hours.

The report presented evidence of a growing crisis in the system. It referred to successive cuts, deteriorating staffing ratios, shrinking resources, unqualified staff and cuts to essential one-to-one interventions, and concluded that the SEN population is growing with no corresponding increase in resources. I am particularly disturbed by the report's conclusions about the current system, which perhaps unintentionally discriminates against children from poorer backgrounds, particularly those in DEIS schools. The report states that students with special educational needs in DEIS schools mostly come from chaotic families. When a child has attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, for example, he or she will only get access to resources when receiving child and adolescent mental health services and can show evidence of an ongoing treatment plan. Poorer families do not co-operate with these services as fully as they might and thus when a school applies for resources, it is turned down. The rules are far too strict for families in DEIS schools. I appeal to the Minister of State to examine this issue, about which I know he is passionate.

Ciarán Cannon (Galway East, Fine Gael)
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I am pleased to be able to outline the position regarding the circular which has recently been issued to schools in respect of the special needs assistant, SNA, scheme and the provision of resource teaching support for children with special educational needs. This Government has passionately defended the provision for special educational spending since coming into office three years ago. It is an area of spending which has been prioritised above all other areas by this Government, despite the enormous pressures on all areas of public spending. Some €1.3 billion will be spent in support of children with special educational needs this year. This level of investment represents approximately 15% of the entire educational spend of the Department of Education and Skills, which is €8.3 billion. There are a greater number of SNAs and resource teachers in schools now than at any time previously.

In December 2013, the Government announced it was increasing the number of SNAs available for allocation to schools to reflect demographic growth and increased demand for SNA support. The previous provision of 10,575 SNA posts has been increased by 390 posts to 10,965 posts being made available for allocation up to the end of 2014. This will bring to almost 11,000 the number of SNA posts available to work with children who have an assessed care need requiring SNA support in primary, post-primary and special schools. These extra posts will ensure that the Government's policy of ensuring that every child who is assessed as needing SNA support will receive access to such support.

A value for money and policy review of the SNA scheme and National Council for Special Education's policy advice on supporting children with special educational needs in schools both concluded that the intended purpose of the SNA scheme was not always generally well understood by parents or schools and that the scope and purpose of the scheme should be clarified for schools. In accordance with the recommendations contained in these reports, my Department recently issued a new circular to schools in respect of the SNA scheme, which clarifies the scope and purpose of the scheme. The circular restates the Department's policy on the SNA scheme and clarifies the care nature of the SNA role. It details the type of significant care needs for which SNA support will normally be provided. The purpose of this circular is not to reduce the number of SNA posts allocated to pupils who require such support, as is evidenced by the fact that the number of posts being allocated has increased. Rather, its purpose is to provide information and guidance to schools in relation to the criteria and operation of the scheme.

An additional 480 resource teaching posts have also been made available for the current school year in order to meet growing demand from schools for low incidence special educational needs support. This brings to over 10,700 the number of resource teaching and learning support teachers in mainstream schools, which is more than at any time previously and compares favourably with 10,305 posts for the 2012-13 school year and 9,950 posts for the 2011-12 year. These increases in teaching and SNA posts should be seen in the context of requirements for the Government to make expenditure reductions across a range of areas and is reflective of this Government's commitment to providing resources to support children with special educational needs in schools.

Mick Wallace (Wexford, Independent)
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I recognise that the supply of money is not unlimited. The Minister of State has indicated that the level of funding has been maintained but the survey published by the joint managerial body, JMB, contains shocking figures. The JMB reported that the 15% cut in supports for pupils with special educational needs since 2010 is affecting the quality of education for children. Parents with whom I have spoken expressed fears about the circular. They are concerned about the prospect that SNA allocations will be considered only after schools have implemented disciplinary proceedings because most of the children concerned do not have sufficient understanding of the rules. When children present with challenging behaviour, it is usually due to one of two reasons; either they cannot communicate their needs or they are overly stimulated and are unable to cope with their environments due to sensory processing disabilities. To implement disciplinary action on a child with a disability or autism is, therefore, effectively punishing him or her for having a disability. The funds may have been maintained but the increase in numbers means more children are not being cared for adequately and are not being granted their constitutional right to an education.

Colm Keaveney (Galway East, Fianna Fail)
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I thank the Minister of State for his factual and selective presentation. However, the report presents alarming information. It states that poorer families are not normally in a position to co-operate with these services and, as a consequence, when the school applies for support without the correct data, it is turned down. It found that the rules built into the scheme, particularly in respect of DEIS schools, are too rigid. The report is somewhat soul destroying in this regard. When I checked the hours allocated to schools in more affluent areas, I was disturbed to find that a high level of extra hours were given to parents in these areas relative to DEIS areas. I recognise that the challenges differ for people living in the different parts of this country but the presence of a DEIS school in a community is an indication that issues of poverty exist. Given the failure identified in the report in respect of adequate engagement to secure better outcomes for children, I ask the Minister of State to outline how he proposes to address that challenge.

Ciarán Cannon (Galway East, Fine Gael)
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I gave a factual response because I like to deal in facts rather than conjecture. The fact is that the number of posts have increased significantly and there are now more SNA and resource teaching posts available to families with special educational needs than at any time in the past. In regard to supporting children with special needs in developing a degree of independence that is commensurate with whatever disability they have to endure, significant research is emerging which indicates that the availability of constant supervision and support from an adult in a mainstream school environment can hinder their progress. It can be counterproductive to provide an enhanced special needs assistance to certain children because it hampers their journey towards independence.

If, as Deputy Keaveney suggests, there is hard evidence backed up by research that families in less affluent areas are facing difficulties in accessing SNA support and resource teaching support, I would be interested in examining it with a view to putting in place other supports in those environments that would allow parents to access the services their children deserve.

Colm Keaveney (Galway East, Fianna Fail)
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It is privately assessed. Some parents are paying for the assessment privately.

Ciarán Cannon (Galway East, Fine Gael)
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In May 2013, the National Council for Special Education recommended the development of a new model for the allocation of those additional teaching resources to mainstream schools based on the profiled need of each school, which breaks the direct link between the allocation of additional resources and the diagnosis of disability. The NCSE concluded that the current support allocation model does not provide all children with equal access to educational supports. It is proposed that a new model should be developed for the allocation of resources whereby a quantum of additional special educational needs resource teaching support would be allocated to schools based on the profiled need of each school. I feel that would go a long way towards addressing some of the concerns the Deputies have raised. On foot of that advice the Minister, Deputy Quinn, has asked the NCSE to establish a working group to propose a new allocation model to reflect those challenges. I expect that report to be available to the Minister quite soon.