Jim O'Callaghan (Dublin Bay South, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

I wish to raise an important issue arising from the lack of classes for children with autism disorder in the Dublin 6 and Dublin 6W region. All Deputies will be aware that it is extremely demanding to be the parent of a child with autism. It can be very stressful. This becomes particularly acute when the child reaches the age at which he or she must attend national school. We know from the National Council for Special Education that the State's objective is to ensure children with autism can be educated in mainstream schools. It is essential in our Republic that we try to treat all children equally. If we are to ensure children with autism can be taught in mainstream schools, we must ensure classes are provided for kids with autism. I know many schools can take children with autism, but if they are to accommodate children with specific types of autism they have to ensure they have special classes. Just one of the 19 national schools in the Dublin 6 and Dublin 6W region has classes for children with autism spectrum disorder. Many parents in the region who have children with autism are facing difficulties because they are unable to have their children educated locally. They are forced to send their children into other catchment areas. This puts great pressure on them and on the other catchment areas. We need to ensure the national schools in the Dublin 6 and Dublin 6W region provide classes to these children.

If it is not feasible or if the schools are not doing it, is essential that the Government intervenes using its powers under section 8 of the Education (Admission to Schools) Act.

Clare Daly (Dublin Fingal, Independent)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

Circumstances are even more acute in north County Dublin than in Deputy O'Callaghan's area. All of us feel the stress parents have to go through when they are forced to come to us having tried everything to get placements for their children. It is utterly shocking for us not to be able to provide them with an answer. All the Deputies in Dublin Fingal, the five of us, wrote to the Minister for Education and Skills and asked him to meet us to discuss this issue. We find it quite reprehensible that he chose not to do so. I ask the Minister of State to return to the Minister and ask him whether he will meet the five representatives.

Let me outline the kinds of cases we have to deal with. Indie McCabe is going to be five this month. We have written several letters to the Minister about the length of time she has had to wait for early intervention. We eventually got a letter back stating the waiting time to be seen by the team was 32 months. Jacob, who has autism, is going to be five in October. He has had his name down for four ASD units in north Dublin, all of which have indicated they will not have a place for him. Home tuition is not suitable for him. The family wants their child to be educated, like his siblings, in a school where he can make friends. Billy was diagnosed a year and a half ago and is still waiting for early intervention. His parents are paying privately for an SNA, which they cannot afford to do. This is absolutely critical. The strategy, if there is one, is not working. We need a desperate remedy for these families.

Louise O'Reilly (Dublin Fingal, Sinn Fein)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

As has been said, there is an acute shortage. This was recognised by the Minister of State's colleague when she said the NCSE is aware of the emerging need in north Dublin. The council is aware that there is a need so the Government cannot be blind to the fact that there is an issue. It is obviously in receipt of all the representations. My constituency colleagues probably send in the same number of representations that I do but, unlike them, I operate two offices in the constituency. I am very available and, therefore, get a lot of people who walk in as well as emails and telephone calls. The individuals are at the end of their tether. Finding €7,500 to supplement services for one's child when one is a lone parent on a fixed income is really tough. That is what parents are doing. When they do get allocated a place, it is very often not in the local area. Every morning, the parents get up and put their children on a bus to Drogheda. That is heartbreaking. They know their children are going to spend an hour on the bus. They want the children to be educated locally. They believe that, by virtue of the fact that the children have a special or additional need, they are not treated with any kind of priority by the State. They are being left behind. We can advocate on behalf of all the individuals and do so, but there needs to be a strategy. It needs to acknowledge what the NCSE has acknowledged, which is that there is an emerging need in north Dublin. The need is not emerging; it exists now and it is real. Despite this, we do not see any action.

Deputy Daly and I wrote to the Minister, Deputy McHugh. We sought a meeting and he is refusing to meet us. What does that say to the parents and children about the sort of standing and priority they will be afforded by the State?

John Halligan (Waterford, Independent)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputies for raising this important issue. I apologise on behalf of the Minister, Deputy Joe McHugh, who was not able to make it on time. I am taking the matter on his behalf.

We are investing heavily in supporting our children with special educational needs, with €1.8 billion being spent annually, almost €1 in every €5 of the education budget. This includes an allocation of over €300 million towards providing additional resources specifically to support students with autism in schools.

The number of special classes across the country has increased from 548 in 2011 to 1,459 now. Almost 1,200 of these classes are autism spectrum disorder, ASD, special classes. The National Council for Special education, NCSE, an independent agency of my Department, is responsible for planning, co-ordinating and advising on education provision for children with special educational needs. The council ensures that schools in an area can, between them, cater for all children who have been identified as needing special class placements. Individual school boards of management are responsible for the establishment of special classes. It is open to any school to make an application to the NCSE to establish a class. When the NCSE sanctions the establishment of a special class or the expansion of special provision in a school, the school can apply to the Department for capital funding to reconfigure existing spaces within the school building to accommodate the class or construct additional accommodation. Where families are experiencing difficulty in securing a placement for their child, it is recommended that they work closely with the NCSE's teams of locally based special education needs organisers, SENOs, who will assist and advise them. SENOs also advise schools.

The council is actively engaging with schools, school patrons, parents, NEPS, health professionals and others involved in the provision of services for children with special educational needs to ensure each child has a school placement appropriate to his or her needs for the 2019-20 school year. The NCSE and an official of my Department met a group of parents from the Dublin 15 area on Friday, 12 April 2019. The NCSE has been in contact with advocacy groups in the Dublin 6 and 6W areas and I have been advised that a meeting will be arranged in the coming weeks.

Let me get to the core of this because the Deputies will have a number of questions for me. It may be of some help for them to note the Department has arranged an information session for 14 May at 3 p.m. in the audiovisual room for all Oireachtas Members regarding ASD provision nationwide. The NCSE and officials from the Department will be in attendance. It has been agreed that council representatives will attend the next public meeting held by the group. I was advised just a few minutes before coming in here that the public meeting has been arranged for 29 April 2019. Members will be invited. This may allay the Deputies' fears that no action is being taken. There are two meetings planned. The Department is planning to ensure children without a suitable placement for next year are provided with a suitable one.

Jim O'Callaghan (Dublin Bay South, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister of State for his reply. It is cruel that we force the parents of children with autism to campaign and canvass politicians to have their children educated in their local school. We all desire for children to be educated locally but the stress of having a child with autism who cannot be educated locally is severe. The child must be taken out of the catchment area and transported to another area where he or she feels alienated and not at home. The Minister of State needs to recognise that the Government has power, since December of last year and under section 8 of the Education (Admission to Schools) Act, to do something practical and real in this regard.

I acknowledge that the Minister of State referred to information meetings but the parents do not want more information meetings: they want action. If local schools are not going to provide classes for children with autism, the Minister, after consultation with the NCSE, has the power to direct additional resources. I want the Minister of State to be aware of that power and exercise it. The Oireachtas gives Ministers powers so they can do something with them.

Clare Daly (Dublin Fingal, Independent)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

I am glad there are meetings coming up but the fact that it has taken protest by parents and consistent lobbying in this House to achieve them is regrettable. As Deputy O'Callaghan said, the parents involved are at breaking point. Receiving refusal letters time and again and being sent from Billy to Jack is not good enough. If they have another meeting and if there is no change in the strategy or a definite place for their children, it will just compound their stress.

The Education (Admissions to Schools) Act includes powers to compel the schools to make additional provision for the education of children with special needs. When will the Government exercise that right and intervene to secure an appropriate education for those children who deserve it? A strategy is needed to help parents in individual cases but there have been so many broken promises. We have a long-standing commitment on a project in St. Michael's House in Skerries, for example. We have been told that it is a priority but another school year is almost over and it is no nearer to opening. If it is just a meeting with no outcome, that will only retraumatise people. We need action and a concrete improvement in the situation as a result of those meetings.

Louise O'Reilly (Dublin Fingal, Sinn Fein)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

I note the Minister of State's reply that he met a group of parents from Dublin 15. I represent Dublin Fingal in north county Dublin and I am talking about parents in Swords, Skerries, Balbriggan, Lusk, Rush and surrounding areas. They are being told there is a 33-month wait for early intervention. It cannot be considered early intervention if there is a three-year wait; that is anything but early. I welcome that there will be meetings but I have no confidence that they will help the parents. The only thing that will help those parents is information about how they can access services and where those services are. I have spoken to parents who are on a single or fixed income who have to scrape to find €7,500 just to make up the shortfall that the State should provide. They are doing the Minister of State's job. It is case of make do and mend for them and they are salvaging every penny they can to supplement the care of their children. They are doing the job of the State, which is not fair. They feel their kids are being treated as second-class citizens. There is little in the Minister of State's reply that would give me cause to tell them otherwise.

John Halligan (Waterford, Independent)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

I spoke to the Minister, Deputy McHugh, earlier this afternoon on this and went through a couple of points. He told me that the Department is committed to ensuring that all children in that area can access the education suitable for their needs. I am aware of the powers under the Education (Admissions to Schools) Act. The Minister has stated categorically that there will be a fix in this regard. I am doing my job and I do not want to see any children in that position. It is painful for me to hear that there are children in this situation. However, I urge the Deputies to allow the two meetings to take place. Having spoken to the Minister and departmental officials, I do not believe that they will be just talking shop, but that solutions will be found.

I do not like to say this but I must read the information given to me. The home tuition grant scheme, which is available. The Deputies should not get me wrong, I am not saying that is the solution, nor would I want it to be if it was for my child, but I am obliged to give out that information.

The meeting with the Members will be valuable but the most important meeting will take place on 29 April with the NCSE. I doubt that the NCSE officials will come to that meeting and just talk about how to solve this. I cannot say categorically that it will be solved then but having spoken to the Minister and the officials that we will solve the problem in the Dublin area.