Josepha Madigan (Dublin Rathdown, Fine Gael)
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I want to thank the Deputy for her question and acknowledge the real difficulties being experienced by this child and his family. I would like to take the opportunity to set out how we support children with challenging behaviours in our schools where the express intention at all times is that they have the supports necessary to allow them to access their education.

The Board of Management of each school must prepare and make available a code of behaviour for all students under section 23 of the Education Welfare Act 2000. The Act requires that the school code of behaviour is prepared in accordance with guidelines issued by the then, National Educational Welfare Board (NEWB), now Tusla.

These guidelines encourage schools to be considerate in communicating the code of behaviour to students with special educational needs. Schools are advised that sanctions should be sensitive to the particular circumstances of vulnerable individuals or groups of students (such as children with special educational needs). Teachers should take particular care that they help these students to understand what is happening.

Following a recommendation in Cineáltas: Action Plan on Bullying 2022 , Tusla are reviewing and updating the Behaviour Guidelines for Schools to reflect current Department of Education policies and procedures. Tusla has established a multi-agency stakeholder steering group to oversee this work.

The National Council for Special Education (NCSE) employs a number of specialist roles to support schools and build teacher capacity in the areas of autism and behaviour. These roles include autism and behaviour advisors, who are assigned across regional support teams to provide advice and support to schools. This service can, as part of the designated training modules, provide guidance for schools in relation to the management of difficult behaviour.

Budget 2023 has provided funding for additional staffing in the NCSE, including additional advisors to support schools in this area. Schools may also seek advice and support from their local National Educational Psychological Service (NEPS) in dealing with behavioural issues.

Middletown Centre for Autism is a jointly initiative between my Department and the Department of Education in Northern Ireland and is jointly funded on a 50:50 basis.

It is a service aiming to provide further assessment, learning support and intervention for children and young people with autism.

Department of Education officials from both Northern Ireland and Ireland engage with the Middletown senior management team on a regular basis to formulate a strategy to increase the levels of service in both jurisdictions.

This includes exploring the development of a pilot scheme for special schools in Ireland with a view to adapting the wraparound Middletown support service for children in these schools and imparting knowledge of best practise to teaching professionals in these schools.

My Department also established an Expert Working Group to develop guidelines for schools on the prevention and management of challenging behaviours where such behaviour is considered as likely to present serious risk of physical harm to the student concerned and/or others within the school environment. The guidelines are nearing completion and will be published shortly. Specific training in relation to the new guidelines will then be provided to special schools.

The intention of this range of supports is to minimise, to the greatest degree possible, suspensions or expulsions from special schools and to better support these students on their educational journey.