Aodhán Ó Ríordáin (Labour) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister of State to the House. I want to raise the inaction of the Department of Education and Skills vis-à-visunregulated seclusion and restraint of children with disabilities. With the greatest respect to her, I am disappointed that none of the Minister for Education and Skills, the Minister of State at the Department of Health with responsibility for disability or the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs considers this issue important enough to merit their attendance in person to discuss it.

Inclusion Ireland published a discussion document last week, "Shining a light on seclusion and restraint in schools in Ireland", which shares stories of 14 children with a disability, some as young as five years of age. Following the publication of the document, Departments should have been reeling in an effort to react to the issues that it raises. Inclusion Ireland is concerned that despite being asked by the National Council for Special Education, NCSE, on three occasions, the Department of Education and Skills has failed to provide best practice guidelines or to introduce reporting and monitoring protocols. Mr. Paddy Connolly, chief executive officer, CEO, of Inclusion Ireland, has stated that the rights and welfare of children should be at the centre of all that happens in schools. On the issue of managing the use of seclusion and restraint, best practice includes support and training for staff, whole-of-school positive behaviour strategies, school leadership and external inputs such as child mental health or disability services.

I wish to put the Minister of State on notice that my colleague, Senator Lynn Ruane, will introduce legislation on this matter, to which the Government will have to respond. I will now read into the record some of the cases that were outlined in the discussion document. The names have been changed to protect the identity of the children involved.

One day I went to collect Brian* from his special school and he was sitting on the sofa in reception crying. His arms were very sore and staff would not tell me what happened. Later Brian calmed down and could tell me two Special Needs Assistants had held him face down on the floor by his arms which were now black and blue.

Michael*, who was 10 years old at the time, wasn’t allowed in the classroom of his Dublin school for 3 months. Instead Michael had to work in an empty room next door to the room where his class-mates were working.

My daughter Jenny* was restrained in a ‘prone restraint’ which is being held in a face down position by 2 or three people. On one month this took place up to 50 times and this went on for some time.

William* was restrained in his school transport by the escort with his head held down physically for the whole journey which took 20 minutes. William said he found it very hard to breathe and it was a painful experience. On other occasions William’s hands were held down ‘just in case’.

Seán* was restrained by a teacher when he was in senior infants. The teacher in question told me that I didn’t have to worry about Seán’s behaviour in school as he had found a way to restrain him.

Luke* attended a special school and he told me that his teacher had locked him into a toilet. The school denied this when I complained. We moved him to another school and a number of months later I was contacted by Tusla as two more children had alleged the teacher had locked them into a toilet. An investigation followed but found that the teacher posed no risk to children and the teacher returned to the school.

“Killian* was locked into a small storage room with a small window. We were initially told the room would only ever be used as a ‘last resort’. The teacher put Killian into this locked room, unattended for up to four or five hours for trivial reasons such as not doing school work quick enough or talking in class.

These are testimonies from the parents of children with disabilities who are some of the most vulnerable children in our educational system. The Department of Education and Skills, the Minister of State with responsibility for disabilities and the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs should be all over this report as well as making statements on how they are going to react to it. The reaction from Inclusion Ireland is one of exasperation at the lack of action from the Department. I understand the stresses that teachers in this area experience but the 14 case studies in this report are appalling and I want to know what the Government is going to do about it.