Catherine Noone (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister to the House. I am speaking on behalf of my colleague, Senator Byrne, who is unavailable this afternoon.

I would firstly like to commend the Minister on the fact that almost €1.8 billion will be invested in special education this year, nearly a fifth of the overall education budget. This has increased by 43% since 2011.

Considerable work has already been undertaken, and is ongoing, in identifying the appropriate form and level of support for children with special educational needs. It is critical that the optimal form of support is provided. From September 2017 a new model for allocating special education teachers has been introduced for all mainstream primary and post-primary schools. The special needs assistant, SNA, scheme was originally conceived as a model to provide assistance to children with significant care needs arising mainly from physical disabilities, in order to facilitate their participation in mainstream education, where possible. In order to provide the best possible outcomes for children with special needs, for teaching and also for care needs, it is of the utmost importance that all special education schemes are monitored, regularly reviewed and revised, as necessary. The outcomes for pupils must be captured in a meaningful way to ensure that the most appropriate form of support is provided to pupils with special educational needs in educational settings.

I wish to address some points of concern raised by the Special Needs Parents Association. Its members have raised the issue of sports. They have also emphasised the importance of developing schemes based on children's needs rather than diagnosis. Ensuring that no child is locked out of a service on the basis that his or her diagnosis does not fit a disability service criteria is obviously an issue of concern for all stakeholders. The association is enthusiastically awaiting the roll-out of children's disability network teams across the country, which will cater for all children with complex needs, regardless of what type of school or preschool setting they are in.

The association's vision for children's disability services, under the national reform programme progressing disability services for children and young people, is to establish children's disability network teams to provide therapeutic children for complex needs. The vision encompasses the following: easy access to the services children need; fairness in providing services; and families, health services and schools working together to support children in developing their potential. This vision will ensure that instead of trying to find their way through a maze of services, parents and health professionals will easily be able to find out where a child should be referred. As much as any supports offered to children with special educational needs and disabilities are welcomed, there is some concern about disjointed policies, despite cross-departmental approaches.

The reconfiguration of children's disability services was launched in 2010, but the lack of investment in therapists, infrastructure and industrial relations issues have stalled progress for the past eight years, with no new teams being formed since 2014. As far as the Special Needs Parents Association is aware, no additional funding for therapists and support staff has been allocated more recently, but perhaps the Minister can respond to this.

Another issue of concern is that competition between different parts of the HSE in recruiting therapists will be compounded by yet another programme opening up posts. There may be a difficulty in getting therapists. This alone will create a gap in current services caused by recruitment delays and existing vacant posts, which are already hard to fill.

The universal therapy inputs into schools by building the capacity and knowledge of school staff. This will undoubtedly show benefits and schools will feel more supported. It is very positive that the Government is so committed to ensuring that children with special educational needs are given the opportunity to live independent lives and reach their full potential. Significant resources are committed to supporting children with special needs. This continued substantial investment in special education resources, which had been lacking for some years, has contributed to significant improvements, as the Minister has referred to. Considerable work has already been undertaken, and is ongoing. I wish the Minister continued success in that regard and thank him for attending.