Special Needs Children Cannot Be Neglected

(24 February 2010, Private Members Time, Edited Version)  

In discussing a proposed constitutional amendment, one provision of which is that the State would cherish all the children of the State equally, we find ourselves discussing the most vulnerable members of our society. I recognise that it is difficult in these times to make ends meet but I hope the most vulnerable in our society will always be at the top of our priority list. The children we are talking about ought to be at the top of that list.

When parents and supporters of children with special needs are taking the trouble to attend debates in this House, one knows they are concerned. I spoke briefly with a representative of St. Joseph’s school in Tallaght. They fear cuts in provisions which would affect their loved ones. I hope there will be openness and dialogue in an effort to meet their needs.

Various figures have been cited for the number of jobs which have been or are being cut. I have heard it said that the Government provided too many SNAs at one time. I do not know if that claim is true. But, I do know there is no need for the funding of these programmes to be cut to the extent that they have been. These cuts cannot be justified. There may have been more money to go round in times of plenty, which may have caused people to develop their expectations, but always in ways necessary and appropriate in dealing with people’s real needs.

I am involved with the trusteeship of second level schools through CEIST, the Catholic Education an Irish Schools Trust. These schools say they have already seen an indirect impact on the most disadvantaged children because of the reduction in numbers of special needs assistants at primary level. This, in turn, will have an impact on students at second level as they are deprived of the fullest possible opportunity to develop.

CEIST have also seen cuts in other areas, such as grant allocations, and increased pupil teacher ratios in subject significant areas such as the leaving certificate applied programme, LCAP, the leaving certificate vocational programme, LCVP, and the junior certificate school programme, JCSP. All of this is great cause for concern. The number of special needs children is rising and we must plan for appropriate assistance for them. The worldwide figures for autism alone have been on the rise for the past number of years, which is of great concern, especially when discussing the cuts in SNAs when the need is on the rise.

We must then ask about the appropriateness of cutbacks in the middle of the year, when schools cannot plan to deal with these cuts properly. Issues surround the making of special needs assistants redundant where boards of management are not responsible for making people redundant but are responsible for making redundancy payments. We are seeing a breakdown in the system, creating all sorts of problems for good people in different areas.

We must revisit the decisions taken to date. We cannot allow children who are in need to be neglected. We must do something to reform the budget cuts which have had such adverse effects on the lives of many children in need and on our education system.