Pádraig O'Sullivan (Cork North Central, Fianna Fail)
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71. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if consideration will be given to sanctioning the post of home school community liaison officers to special schools; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [49773/22]

Pádraig O'Sullivan (Cork North Central, Fianna Fail)
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I did not expect that we would get down this far so that is great. I want to ask the Minister of State about sanctioning the post of home school community liaison officers to special schools and if she will make a statement on the matter.

Josepha Madigan (Dublin Rathdown, Fine Gael)
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The Deputy will be aware that the DEIS programme is the Department of Education’s policy response to the issue of educational disadvantage. The home school community liaison, HSCL, scheme is an integral element of the DEIS programme. It is a school-based intervention provided to DEIS schools to address the needs of pupils at most risk of educational disadvantage. The role of the HSCL co-ordinator is to work primarily with the salient adults in the child’s life, in order to empower them so they can better support their children to attend school, participate in education and develop positive attitudes to life-long learning. Central to that initiative is the identification of educational needs and the provision of a tailored and proportionate response to those needs, through a range of interventions, which are evidence-based, focused and structured.

While the Department of Education undertakes the provision of resources for this scheme, the Tusla education support service has the operational responsibility for the HSCL scheme, providing training and support for co-ordinators nationally. It comes under the DEIS programme and is only for schools within this programme. The Deputy will be aware that special schools receive significant funding and supports relative to their settings. I stress again that the allocation of €2.6 billion, which is over 27% of the entire Department of Education budget, is going towards children with additional needs and special education in general.

The upshot of the Deputy's question is the fact that the HSCL scheme is really only for DEIS schools, at least at present. I understand that the rationale for that is that special schools receive significant funding and supports relative to their settings.

Pádraig O'Sullivan (Cork North Central, Fianna Fail)
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When I put down the question I knew that only DEIS schools were able to avail of home school community liaison officers. I am quite aware of that but I am asking that this would be looked at and reviewed over a period of time. I lifted the following information off the Tusla website earlier. The website states that part of the role of the home school community liaison officer is to enhance a child's educational experience, particularly through offering family supports, parent classes, courses and home visits etc. That goes to the nub of the issue; the parent is as much the focus here as the child. One is dealing with children in special school settings who have emotional and behavioural issues, might suffer from anxiety, and probably have an intellectual disability of some form, be it profound, mild or otherwise. Those parents are dealing with those children 24-7 and 365 days of the year and there should be scope here for home school community liaison officers.

Josepha Madigan (Dublin Rathdown, Fine Gael)
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It is important that the Deputy raised this question because we have to consider these matters, which the Department does. The Deputy conceded that the scheme comes under the DEIS programme and that it is only for schools within that programme at present. It is also important to point out that special schools receive more in capitation than a DEIS school receives in combined funding of capitation and DEIS. The special schools have substantially more teaching and SNA staff than similarly sized DEIS schools, so even where some schools may potentially come under the DEIS banner their funding, due to their special school status, is better. Special schools may already have greater family or community interaction and support due to the student profile they have and they may also have other additional supports assigned to them, such as bus escorts, therapists and nurses.

Pádraig O'Sullivan (Cork North Central, Fianna Fail)
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The simple truth is that there will never be enough resources for the kids in these special school settings with some of the needs I have described earlier. Let us be honest about that. Whether it is kids who need to be helped to feed; need PEG feeding, need help to go to the toilet, or whatever the case may be, the harsh reality is there will never be enough resources. The staff in those settings do a massive job and they are to be commended for it but at the end of the day the parents, who are the focus of the home school community liaison programme, are often forgotten about. As I said, they are at home with those children 24-7 and we lose sight of the fact that they are the most important people in those students' lives. Now that the Minister of State and the Minister, Deputy Foley, are here, I would ask that in time for next year's budget at least some analysis would be done on this issue. I understand that special schools get so many resources but it is comparing apples and oranges with mainstream schools and DEIS schools. There is merit in doing some kind of review and looking into the matter.

Josepha Madigan (Dublin Rathdown, Fine Gael)
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I want to reassure the Deputy that I know this is being looked at and that it has been looked at. I will bring the Deputy's contribution on further analysis back to the Department. The staffing ratios in special schools are significantly lower than in mainstream schools and that is intended to ensure the needs of their students can be met effectively. The Deputy is correct that they are our most vulnerable children, above and beyond mainstream education. These are special schools and we have about 8,500 children in special schools. Some families of students in special schools who have a sibling attending a DEIS school may already have access to a HSCL co-ordinator. I know that scheme is an integral part of the DEIS scheme and we will be considering all matters pertaining to it in relation to special schools.