Joan Collins (Dublin South Central, Independent)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

I am sharing my time Deputy Richard Boyd Barrett.

One reason I submitted this topic is that I, along with other Deputies, received a number of e-mails yesterday on St. Augustine's special needs school, run by St. John of God Community Services Limited. As evident in the discussion on WALK PEER, we are seeing services being pulled from people with disabilities. In the case I wish to raise, a number of children are seeing their services go. St. John of God has decided not to continue with the service. It is saying demand for residential services has decreased. It does not say demand is gone and that the service is not needed anymore or that there is no one using it but rather it is just saying demand has decreased. Therefore, why is the provider pulling the service when there are still people using it?

The vocational education services are to be withdrawn from the school from the beginning September 2018. The houses - five in total - adjacent to the school are to be withdrawn from the children and are to be no longer available to assist in teaching independent living skills. That is from the end of this school year, which is effectively immediately. More than 25 members of staff are to be pulled out of the school and reallocated or reassigned within the St. John of God organisation.

This must not be allowed to happen. It is up to the Minister of State to intervene, particularly in respect of the disability sector. A parents' group has been set up and it has had contact with the Minister of State. He was to get back to it yesterday, according to a letter that was sent. I was informed a meeting was to take place with the Minister of State responsible for disabilities, Deputy Finian McGrath, who it was said would be more than sympathetic to the group's plight. The group expected an update on Monday, 13 June. What has happened? Has the Minister of State replied to the group?

Whatever about St. John of God making this decision, I appeal to the Minister of State to intervene. Alternatively, the HSE should intervene to ensure the services are retained in the school.

Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

I attended the public meeting organised by the parents of 162 children in St. Augustine's special school two weeks ago. It was an incredibly emotional, distressing and angry meeting of parents of children with mild and moderate intellectual disabilities who, incredibly, had letters put into their schoolbags by St. John of God telling them the vocational services that are the critical component of this special school are to be removed completely over the next three years, starting in the summer and in September. The services are to be phased out.

There are 27 members of staff providing services that give meaning to the commitment in the programme for Government to give support to young people with disabilities in gaining access to independent living and education and in having an equal opportunity in life. The removal of the services is unconscionable. The reason almost all the parents had sent their children to St. Augustine's is precisely because of the vocational services that were provided there, which included all sorts of training for life supports and programmes. Staff included speech and language therapists, psychologists and social workers. All of these services are to go and families are absolutely devastated. We cannot get a straight answer from St. John of God. I want to know the extent to which this is the decision of the HSE or St. John of God. Whichever it is, it is absolutely unacceptable and has to be reversed. It will damage the future prospects of a vulnerable group of children, in direct contradiction of the Government’s commitment to increase support, particularly for young people, and to give them a chance so they will not have to depend on adult services. All the parents testify to the fact that the children are flourishing in the school.

If the cuts are not reversed, the children will be knocked back and into further dependency on adult services and their life chances undermined and ruined.

Finian McGrath (Dublin Bay North, Independent)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

I thank Deputies Joan Collins and Richard Boyd Barrett for raising this issue. I assure them the Government is committed to the provision and development of services for children with special needs and improving their access to therapy services. In recent years significant resources have been invested by the health sector in services for children with disabilities.

The Health Service Executive has recognised that early intervention services and services for school-aged children with disabilities need to be standardised. To this end, a major reconfiguration of therapy resources for children with disabilities aged up to 18 years is under way. The HSE's national programme for progressing disability services for children and young people aged up to 18 years aims to bring about equity of access to disability services and consistency of service delivery, with a clear pathway for children with disabilities and their families to services, regardless of where they live, what school the child attends or the nature of the individual child's difficulties. There is also a greater emphasis on the health and education sectors working more closely together in supporting children with special needs to achieve their potential.

Since 2014, the roll-out of the progressing disability services for children and young people programme has entailed targeted investment of €14 million and the provision of 275 additional therapy staff to increase services for children with all disabilities. Reconfiguration of disability services in line with the programme is under way in the HSE Dún Laoghaire area where St. Augustine's special school is located. This area has received a total of 13 new therapy posts to assist in implementing the new model.

St. Augustine's special school in Blackrock, County Dublin was established by the St. John of God Order in the 1930s as a traditional boarding school for boys with a mild learning disability. Students from all over Ireland boarded at the school which provided a range of educational and residential services unavailable at the time in the child's community. In recent times services have been developed which ensure children can access special education while remaining in their family home. More and more families are choosing to have their child attend a mainstream school. As a result, demand for residential services has dropped significantly in the past ten years, from 36 to two pupils recently.

The Department of Education and Skills provides the funding for St. Augustine's special school. I understand the National Council for Special Education will allocate 22 teachers for the 2016-17 school year. The number of special needs assistants, SNAs, allocated to the school for the coming school year will be 28, which means that there has been no reduction in the number of SNA posts or special school teachers. St. Augustine's special school will continue to provide education and services for its pupils. However, I understand there will be changes in the services currently funded by St. John of God community services. For historical reasons, St. John of God community services fund some additional programmes in St. Augustine's special school, including the residential service and a vocational development programme. As stated previously, demand for residential services has declined during the years and in the years before special needs assistants were available through the Department of Education and Skills. While the vocational development programme provided vital support for pupils in the school, there are now 28 special needs assistants for 162 students in the school. In addition, there are ever-increasing and competing demands on resources, including compliance with national regulations.

Against this backdrop, I am informed that the board of directors of St. John of God community services has taken the decision to reallocate resources from St. Augustine's special school to other parts of its service. This will involve phasing out funding for residential, vocational and extended day services in the next three years. I understand this type of change can be difficult for the children and families concerned. As Deputy Joan Collins stated, I recently met a group of parents who voiced their strong concerns on several matters and I raised these concerns with the HSE and my Cabinet colleagues on their behalf.

Joan Collins (Dublin South Central, Independent)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister of State for his reply. The key issue, as he noted and the letter from St. John of God community services states, is that demand for residential services in St. Augustine's special school has decreased. Nevertheless, regardless of whether only two or three children are involved, they should be facilitated through the provision of services. It is crucial that disabled children and their families do not find themselves having to fight for services. They must feel comfortable that wraparound services are being provided in school. I urge the Minister of State to intervene with St. John of God community services to ensure it maintains residential services for current and future students. While I accept the point he makes about special needs assistants, it is important that children using residential services are able to continue using these services.

Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

While I welcome the Minister of State's willingness to meet the affected parents, the reply is the same bureaucratic answer we are getting from St. John of God community services. Special needs assistants are not a replacement for residential services. The whole point of the school was that it provided vocational supports, which are not provided by special needs assistants who provide support with the mainstream academic curriculum. That is not the point of St. Augustine's special school. All of the parents stated in the strongest possible terms that the reason they sent their children to the school was its vocational aspect, in other words, the training for life provided by the staff employed by the Health Service Executive, as opposed to staff employed by the Department. The parents want this service retained. They have been robbed of the basis on which they sent their children to the school. All of them made it clear that their children would have been eaten up - that is how they put it - in mainstream school, whereas they were flourishing in St. Augustine's special school. It is not acceptable that all of the things that have helped them to flourish and are giving them the opportunity to participate equally in life will be lost under the plan. I hate the word "streamlining" because it is always a euphemism for cutting and scaling down rather than scaling up. Any badly needed improvement in other services in Dún Laoghaire should not be made at the expense of vulnerable children in St. Augustine's special school. New services must be additional and not result in services being taken away from young children in the school.

Finian McGrath (Dublin Bay North, Independent)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

I thank my colleagues for their contributions. It is important that people be made aware that funding of approximately €110 million was provided for St. John of God community services in 2016. This included €67 million for services in the Dublin area, which include the services provided in Blackrock. St. John of God community services receive the second largest amount of funding of all disability service providers in the State. As I indicated, I met a group of parents with children in St. Augustine's special school and I will relay their views. Deputy Richard Boyd Barrett referred to letters being given to children to take home in their schoolbags. That was an appalling decision by the service provider. The key issue is vocational support and speech and language services. While I have started communicating on this issue, I will communicate directly on the impact on the families in question. We must ensure all children with disabilities receive the services they need. The organisation in question has a responsibility to act on this matter. However, the Health Service Executive and the Minister cannot be blamed because the board of directors made the relevant decision and handled the matter very badly.