Kathleen Funchion (Carlow-Kilkenny, Sinn Fein)
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30. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the way in which he plans to ensure schools and teachers are resourced to support children who are homeless across the school system; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [52197/17]

Kathleen Funchion (Carlow-Kilkenny, Sinn Fein)
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My question relates to the current homeless crisis and how that is impacting children who are currently homeless and living in unsuitable hotels and bed and breakfast accommodation. What plans does the Department of Education and Skills have to give teachers and schools the necessary skills to deal with children who are experiencing a very difficult time of crisis in their lives? Would the Minister comment on that?

Richard Bruton (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael)
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I thank Deputy Funchion for her question. The entire House acknowledges that we are dealing with unprecedented levels of homelessness and the Government is seeking to respond to that. My Department has a number of schemes that support the position of children who are homeless but the first point of call would be the Tusla educational welfare service.  The Action Plan for Housing and Homelessness includes specific actions for delivery by Tusla. They include that home school community liaison and school completion staff will assist children and families experiencing homelessness to maintain regular school attendance. Children in homeless accommodation will be prioritised within the school completion programme for services such as breakfast and homework clubs.

Additional resources will be put in place to strengthen inter-agency arrangements with Tusla including family support, social work and education welfare. Tusla will appoint specific staff to assist in accessing requisite family support and child welfare services and managing any difficulties that arise for children in relation to school participation.

A joined-up approach will be promoted between education, health and Tusla to meet the needs of homeless families using the existing children and young people’s services committees.

Access to free public transport will be provided for school journeys and outings away from the emergency accommodation. The staff of schools are very sensitive to the needs of children who are experiencing disruption in their lives and make every effort to support the additional needs they experience. In this regard, they have the support of the National Educational Psychological Service, NEPS, which works with schools through the continuum of support model it has developed. I have strengthened the provision of NEPS staff.

In addition, we have the professional development service for teachers, PDST, well-being team, which provides support to teachers and schools.

DEIS, which is our main policy initiative for disadvantaged areas, has the scope to cater to children with particular needs as a result of homelessness.

Kathleen Funchion (Carlow-Kilkenny, Sinn Fein)
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I raise this issue because there are 1,200 children in homeless accommodation who are attending primary school and 600 children who are attending secondary school. Those figures are from Focus Ireland.

I was glad to hear the Minister mention school completion. I am a big advocate of that programme but its funding has been cut massively in recent years. It is struggling as it is so I do not see how it would be able to take on the extra burden of dealing with children in homeless accommodation unless its funding is increased. If that is the case it would be a welcome statement.

I am well aware of the position with regard to DEIS but only 55% of children in this situation are in DEIS schools, which means that 45% - nearly half - fall out of that system. The Minister mentioned Tusla and NEPS but not everything will fall within their remit. I cannot see Tusla dealing with practical situations such as children trying to get to and from school or children being unable to concentrate because they are not getting adequate sleep due to living in one room with their family, not getting an opportunity to complete work and being completely exhausted from the experience. I do not see Tusla playing a role in that. If it is, I would welcome that and the Minister might provide further information on it.

Richard Bruton (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael)
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I outlined in the reply the role Tusla plays, in particular using its home school community liaison service, its support for public transport, the additional resources for family support, social work and education and welfare. As the Deputy is aware, that whole element has been transferred to the Department of Children and Youth Affairs. My Department's national educational psychological service, NEPS, provides support to schools to allow them have the capacity to deal with well-being problems presented by all students. Children who are homeless are likely to present with particular problems so we have strengthened that service. It has a model where individual children can be referred but also it tends to work more to build the capacity of schools to deal with problems they encounter. Across the range we are very sensitive to the needs. There is no doubt that children who are homeless present particular problems but as the Deputy knows, there are many children who present problems to which we have to cater. The build up of the well-being programme and the NEPS and the Tusla services are designed to be flexible and respond to the needs as they arise.

Kathleen Funchion (Carlow-Kilkenny, Sinn Fein)
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The Minister mentioned that there is a support programme for teachers. Could he expand on that? Are there guidelines or some sort of guidance for schools? I ask this because many of the teachers I deal with are not aware of any supports for them to deal with children living in emergency accommodation.

In terms of what the Minister said about Tusla, I was not aware it had a role. My understanding was that it passed that on to another service. If that is the case, are there guidelines that can be issued to schools, particularly those that have a high volume of children living in emergency accommodation? That would be very helpful for teachers in terms of counselling services for them. This is a new phenomena that has developed in recent years and it is a major issue for teachers to try to deal with, particularly the more recently qualified teachers who are trying to get to grips with all the issues that present in a classroom but particularly those to do with children living in emergency accommodation.

Richard Bruton (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael)
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I assure the Deputy that Tusla has a service to every school in the country. It is responsible for monitoring school attendance. It deals with schools on a very regular basis to understand the problems it is encountering, monitor difficulties and provide supports as appropriate. The same is true of the National Educational Psychological Service. It has a capacity building service to every school in the country. It responds flexibly to acute cases in terms of referrals but provides a more capacity building service to schools. Both those services are well known to schools and are available to assist in any individual case.