Josepha Madigan (Dublin Rathdown, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I am happy to address the specific concerns raised by Senator Pauline O'Reilly about the Department of Education, in which I am a Minister of State. The Department is not aware of any instance of inappropriate sharing of information, nor does it take lightly any decision to defend cases concerning children with special educational needs and the rights of the child to an appropriate education under the Constitution. The needs of the child and a desire to act in the child's best interests are always to the fore in the making of any such decision. The Senator may know that in defence of any legal proceedings, it is appropriate for the Department to engage with relevant State bodies and the school or educational establishment in which the litigant is a pupil to understand fully and appreciate the education provision on offer. This is to ensure that any alleged deficiencies in provision can be appropriately considered and, in many cases, to look at what further supports might need to be provided. The statement that we issued to "RTÉ Investigates" outlined comprehensively the Department of Education's position on defending litigation on the sharing of data lawfully in this context. It is also noted that the matters raised in the query from RTÉ were of a general and unspecific nature and, as a result, the Department was only in a position to respond on that basis. The Department of Education, since the Senator has raised the issue, would like to reassure all parents, families and interested parties that the Department has never unlawfully collected or passed on the sensitive educational information of children involving court cases. I thank the Acting Chairperson for his indulgence in that regard.

I thank the Senator for bringing to my attention the other important issues she raised. Under the Education Act, we know that schools have a legal duty to provide an appropriate education to all students, including young people with special educational needs and, obviously, they need to plan to ensure that happens. Planning is an integral, normal part of a teacher's work and planning tools, such as the student support file, have been created as a resource to help schools provide for their students. Some parents may not be aware of the student support file and the schools should let them now about it if they are not aware of it. The Government, as the Senator knows, has invested heavily in education. In this year alone, €2 billion is dedicated to special education. We have greatly increased the number of special education teachers. There are now 16,500, an increase of 39% since 2011. The Senator might be familiar with Department circulars 0013/2017 and 0014/2017. They set out the basis for the allocation of special education teachers to schools and note the importance of educational planning in them. That is to ensure that children with the greatest levels of need receive the greatest levels of support. Those circulars are clear that educational planning is an essential element of a whole-of-school approach to meeting pupil's needs.

It is also noted that planning for the provision of additional teaching support for pupils of schools is an important part of the process and that co-ordination and planning time for this has been acknowledged in the allocation. Schools are, therefore, resourced to carry out planning and support and guidance for these schools on how best to carry out the educational planning and to prepare student support plans is also available from the National Council for Special Education service and from the National Educational Psychological Service.