Robert Troy (Longford-Westmeath, Fianna Fail)
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I thank the office of the Ceann Comhairle for selecting this extremely important topic. Moreover, it is highly topical, given the announcement by the Minister last week of the postponement of the implementation of the new model for allocation of resources hours and learning support. This announcement has created much worry and anxiety for a number of people. I acknowledge that it is important to get this right and note that my colleague, Deputy Colm Keaveney, previously sought to highlight a number of concerns shared by Members on this side of the House about the new model, as proposed. I reiterate that it is important to get this right, as the current scheme has many inconsistencies with regard to learning support, which is simply allocated to the school which has discretion to decide which children receive the specified hours. Moreover, in respect of resource allocation, some children wait anything up to two years for a diagnosis. Consequently, it is important that the model be tweaked and that we get it right.

It is important to reflect the true realities of what is going on. The Minister of State, Deputy Damien English, should note that the Education for Persons with Special Educational Needs, EPSEN, Act 2004 stipulates that a child with special educational needs shall be educated in an inclusive environment with children who do not have such needs. The Minister of State's senior colleague recently addressed the annual conference of the Irish Primary Principals Network, IPPN, and used the quotation:

I could be anything at all with half

the chance. But today, I am going to change the world.

It's mild. I should be rejoicing and celebrating; my glass is half-full, my daughter has a chance, she has "good cognitive scores". They tell me this means she has a good IQ ... [She] is an exceptional child, she went through junior infants, senior infants and first class with no learning support and no resource teaching. Her teachers over the years consistently say that Anna brings a very positive dimension to the class. But now she has developed emotional and behavioural issues; it was only when she did poorly in a sten test at the end of first class that she qualified for limited learning support this year. She needs extra help.

Damien English (Meath West, Fine Gael)
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First, I relay the apologies of the Minister for Education and Skills, Deputy Jan O'Sullivan. While she had hoped to be present, the Deputy will appreciate that, on foot of the change of times, the debate clashed with something else and she is unable to be present. Consequently, I will make this statement on her behalf. I reiterate that she is sorry not to be present because this is an important issue, about which I have spoken to her and the Department.

I thank the Deputy for raising the matter. I advise him that under the existing allocation system, all pupils with Down's syndrome, including such pupils in the mild range, are entitled to receive additional teaching support. Such support is provided either from a school's allocation of learning support or resource teaching hours under the general allocation model, GAM, or from an allocation of additional resource teacher hours allocated to schools by the National Council for Special Education, NCSE. It should be noted that, whether resource teaching hours are allocated to schools under the general allocation model or through an allocation made by the NCSE based on an individual assessment of low-incidence special needs, it is a matter for schools to utilise and manage these resources to best provide for the teaching needs of qualifying children. Each school will use its professional judgment to decide how the provision of additional resource teaching time and hours is made to qualifying pupils in the school to ensure all of their individual needs are met. Schools have discretion in how they allocate their general allocation hours to pupils. Whereas schools will have regard to the number of pupils who require additional teaching support in a school, they are not constrained in the number of hours they may allocate to pupils who may have Down's syndrome and may be in the mild range. This is an important clarification because there is some confusion in this regard. I have also met a lot of parents affected by this matter and the Deputy is correct that they need a changed system to be able to ensure they receive exactly the services they need. Schools are encouraged to allocate hours to pupils while taking into account the extent of their individual learning needs. They may also increase the amount of additional teaching time they provide for pupils by using a combination of individualised teaching time with pair and group work.

The NCSE was asked to provide policy advice on the issue of whether Down's syndrome should be reclassified as a low-incidence disability in all instances, regardless of assessed cognitive ability. In its policy advice it stated it could not establish an evidence base to support a recommendation that a child with Down's syndrome be allocated supports over and above those provided for other children with mild learning disabilities or children with other syndromes that also have associated co-occurring conditions. However, it also recommended that under a new resource allocation model proposed by the council, children should be allocated additional resources in line with their level of need, rather than by disability category. This is probably the issue the Deputy is raising in regard to the NCSE's recommendations.

The Deputy will be aware that last week the Minister announced her intention to retain the current model for allocating resource and learning support teachers to schools for the coming school year to ensure sufficient time would be allowed for further consultation to take place with education stakeholders and address a number of outstanding issues before the new model was implemented in schools. As the Deputy stated, the proposal was not perfect either and still required some clarification and tweaking. Concerns were raised on both sides, by people who had concerns about it but also by those who sought to have it brought forward as quickly as possible. It is a balancing act to get it right and I note that the Deputy has made the point that it is important to get it right. I share that view, as does the Minister. While we must get it right and certainly must not put it off indefinitely, to use it for this year and the coming term, it would have been necessary for it to be implemented last week.

The Minister has informed me that some parents and organisations representing children with Down's syndrome continue to have concerns that the existing system does not give them certainty on the number of resource teaching hours that may be allocated to their children under the general allocation model, as these hours are distributed locally by schools. She will take into account these concerns and listen to the views of parents and representative organisations. To clarify, this morning she met representatives of Down Syndrome Ireland, as well as some parents. It was an opportunity for her to discuss their concerns about this issue and she intends to meet more parents in the coming weeks to try to tease it out and talk further about it.

I will ensure the Minister considers all the issues the Deputy raised, as well as the suggestions he made to deal with them. It is an important issue, one which we all want to see corrected. There is no point in rushing the model when all the evidence we need to get it right is not together yet. The message needs to go out that the system has not been put off indefinitely but that it is a matter of tweaking and getting it right. It was not possible to get it in place for the coming September.

Robert Troy (Longford-Westmeath, Fianna Fail)
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The message is the Department is reconfiguring the system which is correct. It is critically important, however, that those who need additional supports get them now. Twelve months without necessary supports is a significant time for such children when two to four years of age. The difficulty with the allocation of learning support hours and resource hours is that it is at the schools’ discretion. One parent stated to me in a letter:

These supports are provided as part of the school’s general allocation. [My son] is basically under a compliment to that system and we pray that some bureaucrat does not change the school’s budget which could take away these resources with the stroke of a pen.

Education, as we all know, is the building blocks that give all children, with or without a disability, the skills they need later in life, yet the current system is allowing a small section of children to be denied the extra resources they need to gain and develop these self-same skills. Give our children a fighting chance and leave them and us, their parents, with our dignity. Do not turn us into beggars, pleading with civil servants for what our children need. Let us enjoy our children, just as we do their siblings, without the constant worrying about their education. We know they have a disability, we live with it every day, you do not need to constantly remind us of their condition by making us grovel and stress.

Damien English (Meath West, Fine Gael)
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I will bring all these issues to the Minister’s attention. Every Member wants to see this whole area changed. The National Council for Special Education, NCSE, has put forward recommendations for a new allocation model that will ensure resources will be allocated based on children’s needs and their level of need, not their category of disability. That is what the Minister for Education and Skills, Deputy Jan O’Sullivan, wants to do. She met with Down Syndrome Ireland this morning and will take on board its suggestions. She will also meet with some parents. The Deputy has correspondence from some parents explaining how they feel what they are up against. We have been given a good look-in through the articles by Brendan O’Connor over the past several weeks in the Sunday Independent, painting the picture of how difficult it is for parents to get the resources they need.

We all know this model has to change but we have to get it right, as the Deputy said himself. The Minister feels very strongly that rushing it through in the last month would not work because all the evidence needed to ensure it is right is not there and it is an issue that crosses several Departments.

As to what can be done in the meantime for a short-term solution, as the Deputy raised this afternoon, I will bring it up with the Minister. Deputy Finian McGrath’s Bill was not opposed by the Government. The NCSE which gives policy advice on this matter, however, did not agree with the legislation. It stated it could not establish an evidence base to support a recommendation that a child with Down’s syndrome should be allocated supports over and above other children with mild learning disabilities. It is proposing a new model which will give the same solution. We have to join the dots and see what we can do.

I will bring this matter back to the Minister and make sure she contacts the Deputy on this. I know he is being genuine in raising the issue and we are genuinely trying to sort it out.