Shane Ross (Independent)
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I raise the need for the Minister for Education and Science to reverse his decision to cut special teacher support for children with mild learning disabilities in St. Teresa's school, Balbriggan. I cannot understand why children with special needs should be victims of cuts, especially those in education. We agree that everybody should take his or her fair share of the pain but I do not believe it is fair that any children with disabilities, who need special teachers, should take this cut announced by the Minister on Tuesday of the week before last.

In excess of 530 children and 119 schools are affected by the cuts. No great thought can have been put into this matter. These cuts will save the Exchequer only €7 million and will victimise the most vulnerable in our society.

I am particularly interested in St. Teresa's School in Balbriggan because a constituent who has a mildly disabled child asked me to raise this issue. The child needs special education teachers. St. Teresa's has a facility for two special needs classes but after the cut announced by the Minister it will have only one. The result, as the Minister will probably know, is that some of those pupils will have to go elsewhere, either to a special needs school or to a special needs class in another school, or will have to go into mainstream classes. The Minister said there are not enough children to avail of special needs schools. That is not an adequate explanation. There are never enough classes for the children in question. He should not count the children but should count the classes first and put the children into them. It is absurd to count the children and then say some must suffer while others do not. It is very unfair especially as the number of children allowed into such a class is nine. That seems a rather rigid and inflexible allowance which should be varied, and every child with special needs should be accorded the suitable education he or she deserves.

Putting children into mainstream classes, which was proposed as a possibility for St. Teresa's, is acknowledged not to be the optimum solution. It is extremely disturbing for the children involved. Even if they are only mildly affected it dislocates them when they have begun a form of education that suits them. They would have to adjust to an education that is not suitable for them.

While the Minister has made some concessions in recent days, it is very important the Minister of State, who is in the Chamber, should spell out the effect of such concessions and what they will mean to St. Teresa's school in Balbriggan. I would like to disassociate myself from these cuts and ask the Minister not just to look after the children in Balbriggan but to completely reverse these cuts, which are saving only €7 million. The Minister should consider the children who need this. They are children with autism, Down's syndrome or other mild or more severe special needs. I ask him to reverse these cutbacks, particularly in this case, and to spell out what the future holds for those children who really need special teacher support.

Seán Haughey (Dublin North Central, Fianna Fail)
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I will take this Adjournment debate matter on behalf of my colleague the Minister for Education and Science, Deputy Batt O'Keeffe.

I thank the Senator for raising this issue as it gives me an opportunity to clarify the position. It is of tremendous concern to me and to the Minister, Deputy Batt O'Keeffe, that there has been a staggering level of misinformation and misrepresentation of the notification to a number of schools by my Department that they were no longer entitled to retain teachers in classes for pupils with mild general learning disability.

The first and most important point is that all pupils with a mild general learning disability have, and will continue to have, additional teaching resources to support their education. All primary schools have been allocated additional teaching resources to enable them support pupils with high incidence special educational needs including mild general learning disability. Each school was given these additional teaching resources under the general allocation model of learning support-resource teaching introduced in 2005.

I emphasise that these additional teaching resources have not been withdrawn from any school. Schools can decide how best to use this allocation based on the needs of the pupils. Most pupils with a mild general learning disability are included in ordinary classes with their peers and are supported by their class teacher. The curriculum is flexible so that teachers can cater for the needs of pupils of different abilities. This policy of inclusion has widespread support within the educational community. Schools can use their resource-learning support allocation to give pupils special help if they need it. This might be done with a teacher working with a group of pupils or on a one-to-one basis for a few hours each week.

Before the general allocation model was introduced, some schools grouped pupils with a mild general learning disability into special classes. Senators are aware that allocations to schools typically increase or decrease depending on pupil enrolment. In the case of classes for mild general learning disability the normal pupil teacher ratio is 11:1. My Department, however, allows for a small reduction in this number and permits a school to retain a teaching post where it has a minimum of nine pupils in the class. The rules also provide that a teacher would no longer be allocated where the number of pupils fell below nine. In the schools in question, the number of pupils dropped below this minimum and the schools no longer qualify for the teaching posts in these classes.

In 2005 when the general allocation model was introduced, schools with additional teachers in classes for mild general learning disability were allowed to retain the teachers for these classes. Effectively, these schools received a double allocation. The number of these special classes has decreased over the years and schools have integrated the pupils into age-appropriate mainstream classes. All the other primary schools in the country which do not have classes for pupils with mild general learning disability cater for these pupils from within the general allocation model. Surely commentators are not suggesting that three or four pupils with a mild general learning disability should be kept in a class of their own when they could benefit from the interaction of other peers with support from their teacher.

Senator Ross will be aware, however, that the Minister, Deputy Batt O'Keeffe, is open to listening to proposals from schools where they can demonstrate that it is educationally more beneficial for the pupils involved to be in a special class of their own rather than to be integrated with their peers and supported by the mainstream classroom teacher and the learning resource teacher.

There has been unprecedented investment in providing supports for pupils with special needs in recent years. There are approximately 19,000 adults in our schools working solely with pupils with special needs. There are more than 8,000 resource and learning support teachers in our schools compared with just 2,000 in 1998. In excess of 1,000 other teachers support pupils in our special schools. Some 76 classes for pupils with mild general learning disability are being retained where there are nine pupils or more in these classes.

Priority will continue to be given to provision for pupils with special educational needs. The establishment of mild general learning disability classes predate many of the developments in special education policy in recent years and we now have a system for providing schools with supports for pupils with high incidence special needs through the general allocation model. The parents of all children with mild general learning disability need to know their children in mainstream classes are getting a quality education delivered by committed class teachers and supplemented by additional support from the resource-learning support teacher. This is happening every day in schools throughout the country and it will continue happening. I again thank the Senator for giving me the opportunity to clarify the position in relation to this matter.

Shane Ross (Independent)
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I thank the Minister of State for his reply, in which he read, "The Minister, Deputy Batt O'Keeffe is open to listening to proposals from schools where they can demonstrate that it is educationally more beneficial for the pupils involved to be in a special class of their own rather than to be integrated with their peers and supported by the mainstream classroom teacher and the learning resource teacher". Is that a kind of let-out clause? Does it mean the parents or teachers of the pupil to whom I refer in Balbriggan can make representations to the Minister which will allow him to restore the special teaching facilities to which they were formerly entitled?

There was a very noticeable omission in the Minister of State's reading of the script. I do not know if it was deliberate. In the last paragraph the script reads, "The natural sympathy we all have for pupils with special needs and their parents makes it all the more important that we do not cloud facts with emotion". What does that mean and why was it left out?

Seán Haughey (Dublin North Central, Fianna Fail)
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Since the letters went out to the schools the Minister, Deputy Batt O'Keeffe, said he is open to listening to proposals from schools where they can demonstrate it is more educationally beneficial to the pupils involved to be in a special class of their own rather than be integrated with their peers and supported by the mainstream classroom teacher and learning resource teacher. He has also said he is open to listening to suggestions regarding combining resources of schools in a particular locality. The Senator has to take it at face value that he is open to listening to proposals from wherever.

Shane Ross (Independent)
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From whom should the proposals come: the teachers or the parents?

Seán Haughey (Dublin North Central, Fianna Fail)
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They should come from schools. To be brutally honest with the Senator, I am not sure the line that was left out was of any help with the debate.

Shane Ross (Independent)
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It was deliberately omitted then.