Michael Moynihan (Cork North-West, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Senators for raising the issues.

In the first instance, I thank Senator Tully, because we worked closely on the Committee on Disability Matters in the previous term. We certainly raised the issues, along with Senator Clonan and, indeed, Senator Rabbitte, who put a huge amount of effort into her role in the previous Dáil as Minister of State. I thank all Senators who have been liaising with me over the past while in terms of the issue of special education and inclusion. I know of all the deep interest the Senators have in the topic and the desire that we have to support children with additional needs and their families.

I have met many families and parents, as a TD, in assisting them on special educational supports and I know full well the challenges that Darren and Sarah are going through, on a personal level as well as everything else - the pain, anguish and frustration that is faced on a daily basis. As Minister of State in this role, I do not want parents to feel that they are forgotten or ignored and I recognise, desperately deeply, the challenges that parents the length and breadth of the country face. I know the struggles that they are facing and it is one of the top priorities in my role to ensure that there is a system that is working for parents and for children.

It is important that the issue of services for children with special educational needs is kept to the fore of proceedings and that we ensure together, across government, a better quality of services is delivered for the children across the country. In the debate that we have had over the past hour or so, the sincerity of what was put on the floor is very much welcomed, as is, in debates that we have both in the Dáil and, indeed, in my parliamentary party last week, the sincerity of public representatives in reflecting the massive challenges that are out there.

As we look forward to the 2025-26 year, the most pressing issue facing children with special educational needs and their families is clarity around their school placements. While most of our children and young people with special educational needs are supported by their class teachers, special education teachers and SNAs, we must acknowledge the enormous role that special needs assistants have played in improving and creating an atmosphere right across the school system over the years. Since their introduction over a quarter of a century ago, the SNAs have developed into a crucial role. I see at first hand in many schools that we have visited and, indeed, schools that I have visited, not only in this role but as a public representative over many years, the enormous job satisfaction that special needs assistants get from their job, but also the role that we should never stop acknowledging, along with the teachers, the school communities and all who work there on it.

I, as Minister of State with responsibility for special education, along with the Minister, Deputy McEntee, meet the National Council for Special Education, the chair of the board and senior Department officials to track the progress being made on providing new special classes and special school places. We have met on a weekly basis since my appointment a number of weeks ago. I assure all Senators here, and more importantly the parents and families involved, that the work is getting the utmost attention from me as Minister of State within the Department of Education. If I reflect back on the role in the previous Dáil and, indeed, over the time that I have been a public representative, the job we are charged with is to make the lives of people with disabilities, their families, their communities and their carers better. That is something that I take extremely seriously in the role that I have been given.

The number of special needs classes available in our schools has doubled over the past five years to over 3,300. We have established 11 new special schools and five new special schools will open in the coming year. Over the past number of weeks, we have sanctioned 336 of the 400 special classes provided for in the coming school year. There is extensive work ongoing in the Department of Education and the NCSE to confirm the remaining classes over the next while. I am sure Senators will appreciate that engagement between schools and the National Council for Special Education and the Department is key to this and the ideal situation is to progress these classes through co-operation and goodwill. It is also important to mention that, although many barriers remain in getting those classes open, I am not opposed to using the legislative levers at our disposal if needed and we are getting close to the point that we will have to trigger the legislative proposal to get the final classes in place.

Like all of the Senators as public representatives, I meet parents on a daily basis and I know full well the stress and anxiety on them. I meet them at their kitchen tables, I meet them in my constituency clinics and I meet them in daily life as well.

This year, we saw an emphasis placed on notifying the National Council for Special Education earlier, that being, 1 February. It is important that we be earlier in the school cycle and pull back to September-October time for the following year. Families and children are coming forward and we are trying to work to make sure that they have places in a timely fashion. We are facing 1 April shortly and we still have a number of places to be sanctioned and a number of children to ensure that they have places.

We will also look at the information that is available from within the State services, for example, from within the AIM programme, which supports children with additional needs in preschool, and from the Department of Social Protection in terms of domiciliary care. It is important that this information be collated - of course, there are the public health nurses in the system - and put together in a timely fashion so that the Department of Education, in forward planning, has the information that is available so that we can have places available earlier to relieve pressure on families. It is not only the parents, but the wider families as well that have huge concerns. I refer to grandparents, uncles, aunts, etc. Their main wish is to do the very best for children who have additional needs and they are constantly looking for how can they get better services for them. The common application system is being trialled this year and, I am sure, will help relieve some of the administrative burden by allowing parents to submit one application to many schools but may also provide other opportunities as it evolves.

I am not going to say there are not other complexities when seeking a special educational placement but the simple fact of the matter is that children should not be in a position of only being told in June where they will go to school the following September. Like the Senators in their communities, I have met families in the last week of June when their children are leaving primary school but they still do not know where their children will be going in the first week of September. As a public representative, you feel a sense of not doing enough for those families because of the need that is there. I remember meeting a number of parents and the anguish - it is always a joyous day when the school is finishing for the summer - of them not knowing where their children will go. That is no longer acceptable. We have to be in earlier.If a child is going through a special class in a primary school for eight years, that information is clearly available to the Department. We must make sure that we are talking to the families and to the school authorities earlier in the year. That information does not just become available in January or February of the year they are leaving school. It is available for eight years and we know that is going to be the situation.

To that end, last year in the budget, special educational needs organisers were increased from 65 to 120. That is a crucial role. The more SENOs we have in the field, the better. The job of the SENO is to liaise with the families, to have the information collated and make sure we are playing a very positive role in supporting families and schools at their local level.

I am happy to work with all Senators who have specific queries about individual children or specific schools in respect of special education. The Department of Education and the NCSE will be happy to provide updates on any particular queries.

While we have a lot to do, over recent years a lot has been achieved. Between 2020 and the end of this year, the number of special classes in schools will have grown significantly, from just over 1,800 to 3,700. At the same time, 16 special schools will have been established. It is important that all these special schools are opened. We did not open special schools for many years because we were mainstreaming. I remember that when I was chair of the education committee over 20 years ago, they were talking about mainstreaming education. There is a very important place for the special schools and we have to look at the challenges that are being faced right across the country. Members mentioned issues in Leitrim, Cork and Dublin and right across the country in respect of special schools.

We have to acknowledge that 97% of all children attending school today, including the majority of children who have additional needs, are within mainstream settings. Nevertheless, if you visit a special school, you see the complexity of the needs of the children, both medical and behavioural. There are significant complexities there. Reference was made to transport costs for special schools in specific locations. Senator Flaherty mentioned going from Leitrim to Longford. Children have to have special schools within their own communities as well. Over 50% of school transport money is being spent on special education. I believe it would be better spent if we had more schools within local communities rather than expecting children to leave home on a bus at 7 or 8 o'clock in the morning and not be back until 5 or 6 o’clock in the evening. That would be challenging for a neurotypical child, not to mention a child with additional needs. That was mentioned in respect of Limerick and Clare as well during the debate. It is important that we have forward planning in that regard.

We have done a huge amount of work. I commend the Minister, Deputy McEntee, on the way we have worked together on this issue over the past six or seven weeks. We are going to continue to do so. I firmly believe that we have a huge volume of work to do. The figures and information coming towards the Department and the NCSE will mean that we will have to open more classes, in primary schools and in second level education. While I compliment and thank all the school authorities that have been to the fore in embracing this development, there are also schools that need to do more in embracing special education. Some of the schools, when they have a special class, the engagement means their school community has blossomed because of that special class. Kids within the mainstream classes and the special class have come together.

As well as that, we have to deal with the existing infrastructure and build on it. We have to make sure we have places for children earlier in the school cycle. We also have to stop the practice of having school places for special schools at the end of a complex. It needs to be out front. We need to be proud and bold, show that people who are attending special schools are a hugely important part of our society, and embrace and welcome them. In some schools in the centres of towns and villages, the interaction between the mainstream schools, be they second level or primary schools, and the special schools or classes makes for a better society. Similarly, when the pupils are travelling through the town or village, it is all-encompassing and it is a welcome development.

I thank Sinn Féin for the motion. I am deeply committed to special education. I thank all colleagues in the Seanad for their contributions. I know they are genuine and heartfelt. I want to work with each and every one of the Members so that we can make the system better for the children, their parents, their carers and their communities.