Séamus Healy (Tipperary South, Workers and Unemployed Action Group)
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I welcome the presence of the Minister of State, Deputy Tom Hayes, as I know he has an interest in this issue. The school transport system is based solely on providing transport to the nearest resourced school. While it works reasonably well for most students, unfortunately it is detrimental to some students with special needs and disabilities who attend special schools as it does not take account of their medical needs or the support services they require. The problem is particularly difficult in areas such as Carrick-on-Suir in County Tipperary as the Department insists that students with special needs from the Carrick-on-Suir area attend school in Waterford city. This issue has been raised with the Department on numerous occasions.

School transport has been refused, including on appeal, and I appeal to the Minister to address the issue as it is particularly difficult for students and parents. The problem is that, since birth, special needs students have been availing of services in County Tipperary and have built up relationships with the services and their staff. For instance, many have been visiting paediatric consultants, medical, nursing, psychological, physiotherapy, social work and speech and language therapy staff in Tipperary. In some cases, they have attended preschool services in Tipperary. All of these services are available in two special schools in Cashel, Scoil Aonghusa and Scoil Chormaic, where they are provided by a multidisciplinary team. They are of great benefit to the students and provide families with great support.

If the students are forced to attend school in Waterford, they will have to be taken out of school to travel to Tipperary to visit the paediatric consultant, psychologist, physiotherapist, social workers and speech and language therapists with whom they have built up a relationship. All these services are based in Tipperary. It will be traumatic for the children who avail of these services if they are forced to leave the county to attend a school Waterford, which is excellent, and have to travel back to the county to access the services they require as a result of their disabilities. This does not make sense and will be traumatic and costly for the children in question and their families.

Will the Minister to look at this very seriously and amend the scheme? A small number of students are affected by it and it could be addressed at little to no cost. In fact, it would probably cost nothing to amend the scheme to include these students.

Damien English (Meath West, Fine Gael)
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I thank Deputy Healy for raising the matter. The Department of Education and Skills provides for the education of children with special educational needs through a number of support mechanisms and placement options depending on the child's assessed needs. In general, education provision for children with special educational needs is made in special schools, special classes attached to ordinary schools or in integrated settings in mainstream classes.

I am not sure what wording the Deputy used. I only have the wording I have here as to the debate he raised which was on services in general. I understand that the issue was discussed at a public meeting last night and that there was a support locally from other Deputies on the issue. The Deputy did not clarify, however, what wording was different from what he submitted.

While departmental policy is to ensure the maximum possible integration of children with special educational needs into ordinary mainstream schools, students who have been assessed as having special educational needs also have access to a range of special schools or class placements. Special educational needs organisers, or SENOs, from the National Council for Special Education, or NCSE, can assist parents to identify appropriate educational placements for children with special educational needs. The NCSE has published a guide for parents and guardians on choosing schools for children and young people with special educational needs. The guide is available at the council's website.

The Department's policy on school transport is that transport is provided to the nearest school which can be resourced to provide education for the child, taking into account any recommendation made about the type of educational provision that is recommended for the child, whether special school placement, special class placement or mainstream placement with additional resources. The pertinent recommendation for consideration for school transport is the recommendation by the NCSE as to which is the nearest school which can be resourced to cater for the educational needs of the particular child taking into account the type of placement recommended in professional reports. The role of the NCSE is to advise parents on the educational and other resources which can be provided to allow a child to attend school. The availability and provision of health related services, including therapy supports, which is the issue that was raised, is the responsibility of the Health Service Executive. The Department of Education and Skills has no responsibility or mandate for such services. The availability of therapy services in a particular school is not, therefore, a factor which is taken into account by the NCSE in designating which is the nearest school placement which can be resourced to meet the educational needs of a particular child. I understand that therein lies the Deputy's problem.

I understand that the situation the Deputy is trying to raise is the difference between the services provided by the Department of Education and Skills and the Department of Health and decisions made in the latter as well. I stress, however, that the rules around school transport are designed and implemented nationally. I have to ensure they are implemented fairly across the board. In circumstances such as those the Deputy has raised in respect of a particular school, it can be difficult when different Departments provide different services. In light of that, a health and education steering committee has been established to progress the national programme on progressing disability services for children and young people. The programme is based on the recommendations of the report of the national reference group on multidisciplinary services for children aged five to 18 years which was produced by representatives of the professions and management involved in delivering multidisciplinary services to children. The long-term goal of the programme is to bring consistency to therapy service delivery and a clear pathway to services for all children with disabilities according to need. The implementation of the programme will have a positive impact on the provision of clinical services for all children requiring access to health related supports regardless of where they live or which schools they attend.

Séamus Healy (Tipperary South, Workers and Unemployed Action Group)
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The difficulty I am trying to raise is set out towards the end of the Minister of State's reply. The nub of the question is the absence of communication or connections between the Department of Education and Skills and the Department of Health on transport services for children with disabilities where the resourced school is not in the area where the services have been provided to the particular child since birth. That is the key problem. The Minister of State has acknowledged that there is no communication between the two. To be fair to these students and their families, communication is needed between the Departments and the scheme must be amended to take into account the medical and support service needs of children with disabilities where they have established a relationship with those services and with the individuals providing those services in their own county. It is nonsense to have them attend school in Waterford city and have them brought back regularly from school to Tipperary to attend psychology services, speech and language, paediatric services and physiotherapy services. All these services are available in south Tipperary in special schools that provide an excellent service. It is time the Departments of Education and Skills and Health got together to ensure the scheme was amended to allow for the small number of cases we are talking about. These are cases that are highly traumatic for the children and traumatic and pressurising for families. I appeal to the Minister of State to get the Department of Education and Skills and the Department of Health to knock heads together to amend the scheme to make it available to the parents and students I have outlined.

Damien English (Meath West, Fine Gael)
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I thank the Deputy for raising the issue. It is one about which the Minister of State, Deputy Tom Hayes, has also spoken. It is an issue that has arisen in a number of places and not just in Tipperary, which I think Deputy Healy acknowledges. The solution regarding a combination of services provided through the Department of Education and Skills and the Department and Health is not really a school transport one. I have sympathy for the issue. It is something I have been involved in before in other scenarios. Other cases were brought to me where we have tried to work with the Department of Health to find solutions. Solutions have generally been found. We had a case last year which I do not want to outline but in respect of which the Departments - rightly - came together. What the Deputy is saying is that we have a policy issue to fix.

I agree to talk to my Department and the Department of Health to determine how we can fix this. I am not of the view that the solution involves school transport. The issue is the provision of services between the Department of Health and the Department of Education and Skills. I will raise the matter to see if there is anything we can do in any policy area to address the problem. The difficulty for my Department is that we do not get involved in the provision of health related services. That is a matter for the Department of Health, as I think the Deputy acknowledges. I will talk to colleagues in both Departments to see if anything can be done to improve this. It has caused difficulty in a couple of cases. I agree that we have a duty to find a solution. I will provide feedback to the Deputy. If he wants to provide me with the specific details of the case, I will certainly investigate it personally. On the overall policy issue, there is ongoing work which might help in this regard. I will certainly add to that conversation to see if we can fast-track matters.