Aodhán Ó Ríordáin (Labour)
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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.

Catherine Byrne (Dublin South Central, Fine Gael)
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I am here on behalf of the Minister for Education and Skills. I do not know about the other Ministers in question. I thank the Senator for raising this important issue. I understand the impact it has on him as a former teacher. I wish to advise him that the well-being and safety of children should be at the centre of all policy and practices in school. The board of management of each school is responsible for the care and safety of all of the pupils in their schools. Schools should supervise and support children who are distressed or out of control until they have recovered and are able to re-engage in the classroom. This may mean the temporary removal of a child from the environment where the problems have arisen in some circumstances. Schools have a duty of care to all their students and any action taken to manage behaviour must be proportionate. Schools are not required to report such interventions to the Department.

The educational welfare service of Tusla, which is now under the aegis of the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs, has developed guidelines for schools on codes of behaviour, which all schools are required by law to have in place. The guidelines advise that specialised behaviour management strategies, such as the use of restraint, should not be used without expert advice, training and monitoring. In particular, the guidelines point to certain sanctions which are regarded as inappropriate, including leaving a student in an unsupervised situation while in the care of the school. All parents must be made aware of behaviour management strategies employed by the school. There is a range of guidance, advice and support available to schools, including from their local National Educational Psychological Service, NEPS, psychologist and the NCSE's support service. Training is also available for teachers and schools.

The Department is working on the development of guidelines for schools on responding to crisis situations and complex student behavioural needs. These guidelines will be informed by advice from the NCSE. The Department will consult the education partners on them as well over the coming months. It is anticipated that they will be finalised by the end of this school year. The guidelines will be underpinned by the principles that such intervention is never used for the purpose of discipline, it should be applied proportionately and it should last only as long as is necessary to de-escalate the situation. The guidelines will also underline the importance of continued supervision of children during a crisis period, including matters related to behaviour. It is also expected that the guidelines will underline the importance of recording such incidents and how they are managed.

Where a parent, or any other person, has concerns about the care or safety of a child in school, they should report these concerns to the board of management of the school in the first instance. Where a parent or other person has a concern about the welfare or protection of a child in a school they may report the matter as a child protection concern to Tusla. In 2017, the Department received one child protection complaint, which referred to concerns relating to seclusion, and this complaint was dealt with in accordance with departmental procedures, including referral to Tusla. There were no child protection complaints received in respect of restraint.

Aodhán Ó Ríordáin (Labour)
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I thank the Minister of State for her reply but this sort of reply drives me round the twist. The first paragraph of the reply is a classic case of the Department saying it is somebody else's problem: "The board of management of each school is responsible for the care and safety of all of the pupils in their schools...Schools are not required to report such interventions to the Department." It is not, therefore, up to the Department. Mr. Paddy Connolly, CEO of Inclusion Ireland, stated that the NCSE has asked the Department on three occasions to provide best practice guidelines. That has not happened but, according to this reply, it will respond to the NCSE by June 2019.

I accept this is not the Minister of State's area of responsibility but I want her to impress on the Minister for Education and Skills, the Minister of State with responsibility for disability and the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs, who are responsible, that there is no sense of urgency in this reply. I get the impression from this that everything is fine and tickety-boo, there are ways for people to complain, the Department received only one complaint, and so on. There is nothing in the reply that makes me feel that the people who wrote it have read what I have read into the record today in respect of children being locked in toilets, having their faces held down on bus transport or in classrooms, or being isolated in small rooms. Nobody is suggesting that this is an easy job but a report such as this should have made Departments react in a different way from this classic response of, "It is not really our responsibility, it is somebody else's responsibility. We are looking at it and will come back to you in due course". If anybody in this House was told that a child of theirs had been locked in the toilet or gone through any of the events raised in this report, I am sure there would be hell to pay but I do not get a sense from this reply that the Department has that feeling. I reiterate that if this was taken seriously, there would be a Minister with responsibility for the area. Will the Minister of State impress on those responsible the need to do something a little more urgent and impressive to give us the sense that they are taking this matter seriously? If I was the mother or father of one of these children with disabilities who have gone through these events and this response was produced, I would not be impressed.

Catherine Byrne (Dublin South Central, Fine Gael)
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I will relay all of the Senator's frustration and concerns and will outline the seriousness of some of the cases he has raised. I believe, however, that the reply states clearly that there is a process in place and, from my limited experience of the education system and boards of management, I am conscious that people have to make a complaint and it has to be dealt with in the school. Nobody wants to go back to the days when young children, with or without a disability, were punished for different reasons, whether by restraint or being locked in rooms. As a Member and as a parent and grandparent, it is not appropriate that any child should experience restraint in school. I will relay in a clear message the frustration and concerns raised by the Senator and bring them to the attention of the Minister for Education and Skills on my way back to the Dáil.