Mary Mitchell O'Connor (Dún Laoghaire, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Senator for raising the issue. From listening to the Senator, I know the issue is as important to him as it is to Edel, Linda, Georgina, Wendy, Sarah, Anne and the Senator's patient and also to the many other children around the country. I will try to answer the Senator's question globally and then specifically.

I am taking this Commencement matter for the Minister, Deputy Richard Bruton. The Department provides for a range of placement options and supports for schools which have enrolled students with special educational needs in order to ensure that wherever a child is enrolled he or she will have access to an appropriate education.Such placements facilitate access to individual education programmes which may draw from a range of appropriate educational interventions, delivered by fully qualified professional teachers with the support of special needs assistants and the appropriate school curriculum. The Department therefore provides for a continuum of provision which includes mainstream school placements with additional supports, or for pupils who require more specialist interventions, special school and special class placements. This network includes 130 autism spectrum disorder, ASD, early intervention classes, 641 primary ASD classes and 277 post-primary ASD classes in mainstream schools and 125 special schools. ASD early intervention classes are available for children aged three to five with a diagnosis of autism spectrum disorder. Early intervention classes are intended to provide early support for children with ASD before they start school. Following early intervention, children will attend a mainstream class unless there is professional guidance that they require a special class or a placement in a special school. The National Council for Special Education, NCSE, which is a separate independent statutory body, plans and co-ordinates the provision of education and support services to children with special educational needs in consultation with the relevant education partners and the Health Service Executive.

The NCSE is aware of the emerging need in north Dublin, as the Senator has spoken about, from year to year, and where special provision, including special class or special school provision, is required, it is planned and established to meet that need. This process is ongoing. The school referred to by the Senator includes a two classroom special needs unit in which it currently operates two ASD early intervention classes. The NCSE has informed the Department that it has agreed in principle to this school establishing additional primary ASD special classes subject to accommodation being available. It has also advised that the school is in the process of submitting an application to the Department for capital funding to reconfigure existing spaces within the school building to accommodate the classes or to construct additional accommodation. The Department has also provided a new two classroom special needs unit in Scoil Chormaic, CNS, Balbriggan. The NCSE is currently engaging with the school in relation to establishing ASD primary classes for the forthcoming school year.

The Education (Admission to Schools) Bill 2016 was published on 6 July 2016. During the Committee Stage debate of the Education (Admission to Schools) Bill, the Minister, Deputy Bruton, outlined his intention to include a provision that will provide, based on reports and advice from the NCSE, a power for the Minister to require a school to open a special class or increase the number of special classes in schools identified by the NCSE. Officials from the Department are currently engaging with the Office of the Parliamentary Counsel on the development of legislative proposals on this matter which the Minister, Deputy Bruton, hopes to bring forward to Government for approval shortly. The NCSE will continue to work with schools, parents, NEPS, health professionals and other staff who are involved in the provision of services in the areas referred to by the Senator for children with special educational needs, to ensure that each child has a placement appropriate to their needs for the 2018-2019 school year.