Seanad debates

Wednesday, 21 January 2015

Commencement Matters

Special Educational Needs Service Provision

10:40 am

Photo of Paddy BurkePaddy Burke (Fine Gael)
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I welcome the Minister of State, Deputy Kathleen Lynch, to the House.

Photo of Thomas ByrneThomas Byrne (Fianna Fail)
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Tá mé buíoch go bhfuil deis agam an ábhar tábhachtach seo a ardú ar an Tosú sa Seanad inniu.

I wish to raise an issue that has been of considerable concern in County Meath, particularly in child care settings, for seven months or so. Not many people are aware that, in County Meath and possibly some other counties, the former health boards and then the HSE have funded special needs assistants, SNAs, in preschools for decades. As there was an SNA in my child's preschool class, I believed it was routine. It did not occur to me that it was a specific provision that could be put under threat. I could not see how the child with special needs or the rest of the class could operate without that SNA.

In or around June of last year, HSE officials wrote to preschools in County Meath informing them that the service was being withdrawn. This caused considerable consternation and some level of disbelief. During the past six months, a campaign entirely composed of providers of child care services has built up. They have now been joined by parents. They organised a meeting on the issue last week in Navan. It was a cold winter's night, but the meeting was packed and was one of the largest I had ever attended. Some parents were in tears over the uncertainty created by the HSE's bad news. Others paid tribute to the SNAs who had done tremendous work with their children. One woman credited an SNA with giving her child the gift of speech. Subsequently, we heard from the HSE through the media - as usual - that it would fund the provision of SNAs, but that it had not yet decided on the level of funding.

This system is haphazard. Are we depending on the budgets and whims of the HSE and Government for the provision of SNAs? I believed we were beyond such. While there will always be budgetary issues and we will always need more SNAs, I never envisaged that someone could decide to abolish the entire system and that everyone would lose. In general, something like this has not happened in the austerity climate. We will have another day for a political debate, but Governments have tried to level out the impact so that no one would be targeted for complete elimination. Cuts have been made across the board as best as possible.

Last week's HSE statement that it would continue funding the service was welcome, but it has not announced the level of that funding. There is still considerable concern and I have been asked to keep raising the matter until we get clarity on what is happening.

There is a key political issue.

Can someone please tell the HSE not to be putting parents and, indeed, the providers of preschool education, through this stress, this trauma, the tears and the upset that I witnessed at a public meeting in a public forum last Thursday night? I am sure this has been replicated in homes and in preschools. Many of the parents whose children are availing of preschool special needs assistants will also be availing of the same service next year if they are participating in a two-year ECCE or two-year programme. Those parents who are currently availing of the services are concerned for everybody else but they are also concerned about their own situation. I pay tribute to the group comprising five providers of child care who have been joined by other people. They have brought the HSE so far but, in my view, there was no need for this crisis to happen and there would have been no need to have this public meeting if there had been a proper statement yesterday and proper provision. There were arguments over whether the health service should be involved as opposed to the Department of Children and Youth Affairs. This is a matter for the Department's internal administration but the bottom line is that the Minister's Department is the provider and I thank the Minister of State for her attendance today.

10:50 am

Photo of Kathleen LynchKathleen Lynch (Cork North Central, Labour)
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I do not think I fully agree with the Senator's last comment but I understand the point he makes and I thank him for raising this matter. The issue of the participation of children with a disability in preschool is a cross-cutting issue involving a number of stakeholders including the Departments of Children and Youth Affairs, Education and Skills and the HSE. The free preschool year is provided through the Early Childhood Care and Education programme, ECCE, which is the responsibility of my colleague, the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs. The objective of this scheme is to make early learning in a formal setting available to eligible children in the year before they commence primary school. While the HSE has no statutory obligation to provide supports for children with special needs wishing to avail of the free preschool year, it works at local level and in partnership with the relevant disability service providers to address individual needs as they arise. This is done in a number of ways such as funding special preschools that cater specifically for children with disabilities.

In some limited cases, at local level, HSE disability services have also facilitated children with disabilities to attend mainstream preschools by providing funding for preschool assistant supports where possible and to which the Senator referred in his contribution. In this context, the HSE Meath disability service provides a preschool assistance subsidy in co-operation with Enable Ireland Meath early services. This subsidy assists towards the cost of obtaining a preschool assistant for a child with a disability. The subsidy is currently paid directly to the preschool as the employer. I am advised by the HSE that the current demand for this subsidy exceeds available resources. These arrangements should not be confused with special needs assistants for children in primary and secondary schools, who are the responsibility of the Department of Education and Skills.

The HSE is obliged to review continually all its existing funding arrangements in order to ensure that services are provided within available resources. The HSE Meath disability service has confirmed that it is committed to continued funding of this subsidy for the academic year 2015-16 from within its approved budget. The overall budget allocation for 2015 is under consideration. The HSE has also stated that it will be necessary to review how these support hours are allocated in order to ensure that resources are used to best effect and on the basis of need.

The HSE is currently involved in a major reconfiguration of its therapy resources for children and young people with disabilities as part of its national programme on progressing disability services for children and young people, aged up to 18 years. This programme, when fully implemented, should mean greater equity in accessing therapy services, based on need, clearer referral pathways and improved collaboration between the sectors. An additional €4 million, equating to approximately 80 additional therapy posts, was specifically allocated in 2014 to drive implementation of the programme. A further additional investment of €4 million will be made in the programme in 2015. This equates to €6 million in a full year.

This programme is already well advanced in Meath. In addition, a dedicated cross-sectoral team, comprising representatives of my Department, the HSE, the Department of Education and Skills and the Department of Children and Youth Affairs, is in place to strengthen cross-sectoral working on children's disability issues. A subgroup of this cross-sectoral team is examining the issue of the integration of children with disabilities into mainstream preschool settings, including supports for these children. It is expected to conclude its work in the coming weeks. I hope this information is of benefit to the Senator.

Photo of Thomas ByrneThomas Byrne (Fianna Fail)
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I welcome that the issue is being examined at national level. However, in Meath this service has been provided for decades. Most children with special needs whose parents wish them to attend a mainstream preschool do so. We would like certainty and we would like to see the results of the report, as well as having proper funding in place for next year. We would like to see parents and schools better informed about the situation because the uncertainty is causing stress, anxiety, worry and tears. I will be raising this issue again, as will other colleagues. It is important that it is raised in the House today. The HSE needs to take immediate action and to explain that what it intends to provide will be at least the same as last year - which is not sufficient and was not sufficient last year. There needs to be a level of service equivalent to what has been provided. Some certainty needs to be provided because this will be a very anxious month for many parents as they wait for a decision about next year but also for society in general as we wait to see what the Government plans to do. I suggest that the principle of the Meath plan is good and it should be used in other areas rather than it being abolished in Meath. I thank the Minister of State and I thank the Cathaoirleach for allowing me to raise the matter.

Photo of Kathleen LynchKathleen Lynch (Cork North Central, Labour)
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The HSE has confirmed it will continue to support services. I agree with the Senator that this is the type of service that we should provide everywhere if we are now saying that no child with a disability should go to a segregated school, even though I admit that I believe that in some cases there is a very particular need for a specialist school which would be of benefit to those with particular disabilities. We encourage parents to make the choice about putting their children in mainstream education. We need to get together to see how this choice can be supported. Teachers enable the delivery of education and socialisation to all children but the supports are needed for some children. However, this is not solely a matter within the remit of the Department of Health nor of the HSE, even though the HSE needs to reassure parents about the funding for the coming year. The responsibility definitely lies with a combination of Departments and it is a case of them getting together to decide on a change to how service for those with disabilities will be delivered in the community to both children and adults with disabilities.

Photo of Thomas ByrneThomas Byrne (Fianna Fail)
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I thank the Minister of State.

Sitting suspended at 11.10 a.m. and resumed at noon.