Dáil debates
Wednesday, 23 October 2019
Saincheisteanna Tráthúla - Topical Issue Debate
Special Educational Needs Service Provision
3:35 pm
Marcella Corcoran Kennedy (Offaly, Fine Gael)
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I welcome the opportunity to raise this important Topical Issue debate relating to the Offaly school of special education based in Kilcruttin, Tullamore, which has capacity for 36 children. The school currently caters for 34 children with a 35th child to start in the coming weeks, which will leave it with just one vacancy. The school has a staff of 26 with 11 bus escorts. The children catered for are in the severe to profound range of intellectual disability, moderate to severe intellectual disability and autism spectrum disorder, ASD.
They require teaching in a specifically-designed premises away from mainstream education schools. The circumstances of each child attending the school in Tullamore are unique. Their needs include learning difficulties, communications disorders, physical disabilities and behaviour and emotional problems, to cite some of the many possible issues pertaining to these children. I was recently invited to the school to meet the staff and some of the board of management members. I saw first hand the important and sometimes challenging issues that the teaching and support staff deal with every day. I thank the Minister for his informal meeting with the principal, Ms Denise Cole, and Mr. Frank Brennan, a member of the board of management. Deputy Barry Cowen and I imposed on the Minister's official engagement when he went to visit the Midlands Skill Centre. I thank him for that and I thank the centre for allowing our intervention and the hijacking of a few moments of his time. It is much appreciated. It is clear that the staff are providing a great service to the children. I learned how each child will have a fully tailored education and care programme to ensure that their specific needs are met. The staff provided me with some of the positive outcomes that have been achieved in Kilcruttin for the children. The ethos of the school is to work towards incremental improvements and learning outcomes at a pace that suits each child's own needs and abilities.
There are three ASD classes and three classes for severe, profound and multiple disability. Many of the children have challenging behaviours and they do not have a general purpose room or a playground. As the Minister may be aware, movement breaks are essential for children with ASD to manage their sensory regulation which, in turn, reduces episodes of challenging behaviour. Only one room has a break-out room where children can go in the event that a classroom environment becomes intolerable for them. Pupils may need to take time out during the school day and it is essential that the students can avail of physiotherapy or relaxation and that there are facilities in the school to allow this. I was advised during my visit that other students can be negatively impacted and upset during events such as this, and that a lack of suitable facilities currently at the school often escalates situations that would ordinarily be more easily managed.
The school is in a good position to avail of additional rental space directly adjacent to the premises, if the Department would sanction this development. I am advised that it will cost approximately €16,000 per annum and I call on the Minister's officials to re-examine the proposal, which I understand was received negatively in the context of the significant benefits that this would bring to the school community. This proposal is also supported by the HSE physiotherapy department, which says that the children need it, and that equipment is required to be moved around and that storage for it is an issue. I hope that the Minister can give this matter the urgent consideration it deserves.
3:45 pm
Joe McHugh (Donegal, Fine Gael)
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Gabhaim buíochas don Teachta as ábhar seo na Saincheisteanna Tráthúla a ardú. I thank the Deputy for raising this matter and also thank her, along with her constituency colleague, Deputy Cowen, for meeting Mr. Frank Brennan and Ms Denise Cole. It was a brief meeting but the message was direct and they certainly put on record the importance of this issue. We are treating it seriously.
I assure the House that the education of children with special educational needs remains a key priority for this Government. Amid the unknowns of Brexit and the constraints that this imposed on budget 2020, we remain dedicated to doing our best for the most vulnerable children including those with special educational needs. Equality of opportunity is at the heart of our vision. Currently, €1.9 billion is being invested in special education, almost one fifth of the overall current education and training budget, which includes almost 13,500 special education teachers and nearly 16,000 SNAs. Some 124 special schools with 1,500 teachers cater for more than 8,000 students and an additional 1,000 special class places have been provided in this school year, with the establishment of 167 new special classes. The recent budget includes funding for an additional 1,064 SNA posts, which will be available for allocation next year. This will bring the total number of SNA posts in our schools to 17,000. An additional 23 posts will be provided for special schools, designed to meet expected increases in enrolments in special schools due to increasing enrolments and demographics in 2020, providing more than 8,000 places. It also provides for the continued provision of administrative deputy principal posts in special schools with more than 15 teaching posts introduced in special schools for the first time this September.
A pilot of the new school inclusion model approved by Government on 8 February is being implemented in HSE CHO 7 for this school year, with the continuation of the in-school speech and language and occupational therapy demonstration project to provide in-school and preschool therapy services as part of the school inclusion model. Children who are attending pilot schools and who receive therapy supports from the HSE will also continue to access such services. The in-school therapy model is designed to supplement, not to replace, existing services. Children who require therapy services and who are not attending one of the pilot schools will continue to access services from the HSE. Health therapy supports for children with disabilities, including physiotherapy supports, are provided by the HSE. These services are currently being reconfigured into geographically-based teams for children and young people aged zero to 18 who have complex needs under the executive's national programme, Progressing Disability Services for Children and Young People.
The special school to which the Deputy refers has access to physical and sensory therapy supports, including physiotherapy supports from the HSE. The executive also provides nursing support to the school. An application from the school to my Department for funding to rent additional accommodation, including space for physiotherapy supports was unsuccessful as the school confirmed that it does not have an immediate need for the space and my Department would consider the renting of the property in anticipation of the increased need in the coming years. A further letter from the school seeking additional accommodation has been received by my Department and the school's long-term accommodation needs are currently being reviewed by my Department. In a nutshell, there is an updated request and I have asked my officials to look at that to see how we can progress it.
The Department's priority, with the limited funding available, is the provision of essential classroom accommodation in areas where significant demographic need has been established, including special class and special school places, to ensure that each child, including children with special educational needs, will have access to a physical school place.
Marcella Corcoran Kennedy (Offaly, Fine Gael)
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I thank the Minister for his comprehensive reply. I note that the school said that it does not have an immediate need for the space. However, another student is coming in, which means that 35 of the 36 places will be taken, leaving only one available. The school management knows from the other schools in the catchment area that further students will require its services. I welcome the fact that long-term accommodation is being reviewed by the Department. The Department encouraged the school to convert the existing physiotherapy room into a classroom at a time it had lower numbers. The need for this particular room is more pressing now. The Minister referred to the HSE's welcome supports. It is very supportive of the requirement for the daily programme that is required for children with complex needs and says that more space is definitely required. The HSE has supported the school's application to the Department and outlined the requirement in detail.
I also wanted to raise the fact that I have been contacted by parents in Edenderry who said that they are concerned that there will not be any space at a second level school for children with ASD who will finish primary school next June. I am told that there is only one place left in Edenderry and that up to 36 children in the catchment area will require access to special classes at post-primary level. I hope that the Minister will take that into account and bring it back to the Department to examine how this will be dealt with. Naturally, parents are most concerned that their children would be catered for in an environment that is most appropriate for their needs.
Joe McHugh (Donegal, Fine Gael)
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I acknowledge again Mr. Frank Brennan and especially Ms Denise Cole in the special school, who is an advocate of long-term sustainable planning within her school. That will be the focus of the request. The situation has changed, as the Deputy outlined, and will be a factor in the decision. We will make a decision quickly.
On the Deputy's second point on Edenderry, I will get my officials to look at the specifics of that issue but at a general level, when schools come along, particularly post-primary schools in respect of which we are under pressure in certain densely populated areas, we will work with them. My message all the time is that if there is a school interested in providing additional ASD classes that provide the opportunity for young people to be part of a whole-school community in special ASD classes or in mainstream classes, we have to facilitate that. I will check out the specifics of the situation there and get back to the Deputy directly.