Mary Moran (Labour)

I extend a warm welcome to the Minister of State, Deputy Ciarán Cannon, and thank him for coming into the Chamber to discuss the allocation of language support and resource teachers for special needs pupils in the coming school year.

Before addressing the issues to be raised, I am honoured to be a Member of the 24th Seanad and proud to have been nominated by the Taoiseach to this esteemed position. I am a native of Blackrock, Dundalk, County Louth, where I have lived and worked most of my life. I am delighted to be joined in the Seanad by two other Members from Dundalk, namely, Senators Terry Brennan and Jim D'Arcy. It is my intention as a Senator to serve both the people of Dundalk and County Louth and the people of the country with enthusiasm, loyalty and dedication. I have always tried to achieve the highest standards in the course of my work as a secondary school teacher, including as a resource teacher, and as a mother to my five teenage children. I am also extremely proud and honoured to have the distinction of being the first ever female Member of the Oireachtas from County Louth.

I was honoured to receive a nomination to contest the Seanad elections from Inclusion Ireland, the national association for people with an intellectual disability. I take the opportunity to commend Inclusion Ireland and all disability groups for the tremendous work they do to improve the lives of people with a disability. As a mother of a child with special needs, I am well aware of the lack of services for people with a disability. I intend to use my time in the Seanad to raise awareness and address disability issues on an ongoing basis. I reiterate the recent "Prime Time Investigates" programme on carers highlighted the urgent need for improvements in this regard.

I have been a secondary school teacher since 1981 - I do not admit this to many - and in those 30 years I have seen great changes in the education system. Although 30 years ago innovations such as interactive white boards, the Internet, let alone broadband, and DVD players had not been invented, how many schools have access to such luxuries today? The previous Government continually promised huge investments in ICT and broadband and Internet connectivity in every classroom. Despite such promises, on leaving school in June 2011, I still had not been provided with an Internet connection in my classroom. Despite 50% of the marks in the leaving certificate in music being available for technology, a survey I carried out in 2008 while studying for a masters in music technology showed that only 54% of music classrooms had one computer, while 16% of music rooms had none.

The programme for Government underlines the Administration's commitment to building a knowledge society and declares "Education is at the heart of a more cohesive, more equal and more successful society, and it will be the engine of sustainable economic growth". I fully subscribe to this sentiment and believe education is the key for young people to achieve their full potential. Despite the economic recession, there are clear and tangible objectives for education in the programme for Government, particularly with regard to literacy, curriculum reform, school management and ICT. Importantly, there is a holistic view of education as a cycle of lifelong learning, that is, from the cradle to the grave, from preschool through primary, secondary and tertiary levels, as well as adult learning. As Labour Party spokesperson on education in the Seanad, I look forward to working with the Minister in the achievement of all the objectives set out in the programme for Government.

As the Minister of State noted, the number of students staying within the education system in the school year 2011-12 will be significantly higher than was expected in previous years. This increase is welcome as it meets the objective to reduce the incidence of early school leaving nationally. However, to keep up with the increasing numbers of students remaining within the formal education system, it is predicted that approximately 160 additional mainstream teachers will be required. The recruitment embargo across the public service has meant it is simply not possible to recruit more teachers to accommodate this increase and consequently the Minister has had extremely hard decisions to make.

There are approximately 1,125 language support posts in primary schools and 275 at second level. These 1,400 posts are in addition to mainstream classroom teachers. The teachers concerned allow schools to withdraw pupils for varying amounts of time to concentrate on the teaching of English. The phased reduction in the number of language support teachers was one of a number of measures introduced in the 2011 budget by the previous Fianna Fáil-Green Party Government. It proposed a phased reduction of 500 language support teachers over a four year period and these changes were due to become effective from September 2011 with a proposed reduction of 125 such teachers. However, owing to the embargo on recruitment and other constraints placed on us by the EU-IMF bailout deal negotiated by the previous Government, it has been found necessary to accelerate this programme and increase the proposed reduction to 250 language support teachers this year. While I am sure the decision to accelerate the proposed reduction in the number of language support teachers to increase the number of mainstream teachers was not taken lightly, as a teacher I can completely understand the unpleasant reception to be anticipated by this announcement. However, it is important to realise the Minister has sought to ensure the most disadvantaged and vulnerable schools will be protected.

The change will have little or no impact on schools with a high concentration of pupils in need of language support, that is, greater than 25%. The new allocation rules will only affect schools in which less than 25% of the school population require English language support. Students in such schools are eligible for language support for a period of up to two years, rather than three years. Consequently it should be noted that the 2,500 students affected by this change in the allocation rules have already received support for two years. Moreover, it should be noted that it is not envisaged that schools will be obliged to lose any more than the 500 teachers proposed by the previous Government who were already intended to be lost. The Minister is taking a long-term view that by accelerating the process now it will help Ireland to recover faster and better.

There is better news with regard to resource teachers. Resource teaching hours are allocated by the National Council for Special Education, NCSE, for students with special educational needs who require additional teaching support. As the Minister of State has pointed out, the number of resource teachers to be allocated for this year has increased by 350 on last year, to a total of 9,950 posts. Therefore, it is important to note that there will be more resource teachers than last year and there has not been a cut in resource teacher numbers despite reports to the contrary.

I understand the Minister has difficult choices to make. The allocations proposed in the context of our changed economic circumstances are difficult. I ask the Minister to prioritise special needs education and to ensure that in the difficult decisions he has to make, the most vulnerable of our citizens are afforded the most protection.

I thank the Minister of State for coming to the House and I wish both him and the Minister, Deputy Quinn, continued success in the Department of Education and Skills.