Joe O'Reilly (Fine Gael)

Ba mhaith liom fáilte a chur roimh an Aire Stáit go dtí an Teach. The matter I raise is home-based July tuition for a special category of children. Children who qualify for this tuition receive one-to-one time with a qualified teacher for ten hours per week in the child's home, the teacher's home, a room in a local community centre or another appropriate location. This tuition provides the child with a routine and has the benefit of ensuring he or she does not become bored during the summer.

Owing to the special needs of the children in question, participation in summer schools and camps is not appropriate. They may, for example, have difficulty with toilet training, social interaction and normal socialisation. Providing special tuition in July gives parents important respite, makes an important contribution to the ongoing development of the children and helps prevent a year's good work in school being reversed.

Children who are deemed to be on the autism spectrum or to have severe to profound learning difficulties receive home-based tuition in July. The designation of children in specific categories is done by the National Council for Special Education. The system does not accommodate children who are deemed to have moderate to severe learning difficulties. While all the children at issue have some level of disability and feature on the continuum of special needs, the Department does not grant July tuition to those who are deemed to be in the moderate to severe category.

I have recently met a number of parents affected by this issue, including in one case a parent whose child was accepted on the scheme last year but not this year. In another case, the child was not accepted on the scheme either last year or this year despite having much greater needs than some of the children who were accepted on the scheme. Given that the needs of the children in question form part of a continuum, it is difficult to delineate between their needs.

In my locality, the Holy Family school in Cootehill caters for children in the three categories to which I refer. July tuition hours should be provided to children with moderate to severe special needs because they need the tuition as much as other children. The parents need respite while their children who have difficulty accessing conventional activities for children need to be occupied. Such children have the same rights and needs as other children. They can benefit significantly from extra tuition, without which progress made during the school year could be reversed.

In addition to the reasons I have set out, the children in question should be provided with summer tuition on the basis of the principle of natural justice and our commitment to cherish all the children of the nation equally. While some may contend that one must be more circumspect and less lavish in times of scant resources, I contend that irrespective of how grave are our needs, no financial retrenchment or austerity measures should impact on an area such as special needs education. If one was doing a household budget involving retrenchment, as many of us have done or will have to do, one would not decide to reduce expenditure on food or education for one's children. This applies also in the case of special educational needs.

I ask the Minister of State to ensure a direction is issued requiring children with moderate to severe learning difficulties to have access to July tuition. This is especially important given that distinctions between the various categories on the spectrum are blurred. Such a direction would not involve much additional expenditure and would affect only a small number of children but would have important benefits.