The following motion was moved by Deputy Eoghan Kenny on Wednesday, 30 April:
That Dáil Éireann:
notes that:
— there is an ongoing failure by the State to adequately plan for school places for children with special or additional educational needs;
— parents have resorted to sleeping outside the Department of Education to raise awareness of the lack of appropriate places;
— significant sections of the Education for Persons with Special Educational Needs (EPSEN) Act 2004 remain un-commenced, and a review of the EPSEN Act was begun in 2021 with a public consultation in 2023 but to date no report or recommendations have been published;
— schools that have been assessed as requiring additional Special Needs Assistant (SNA) positions are being blocked from recruiting for these essential roles;
— there is no timeframe or sufficient budgetary provision in place for ensuring the national provision of in-school therapies through the Educational Therapy Support Service (ETSS), building on the work of the School Inclusion Model pilot; and
— the training and supports provided to teachers, SNAs, and other educational staff have not kept pace with developments in the field of additional needs education;
recalls that:
— 126 children with Special Educational Needs (SEN) had no school place at the start of this school year in September, and the number of children accessing the Home Tuition Grant scheme due to the lack of an SEN placement has increased;
— there is no national centralised system operated by the National Council for Special Education (NCSE) to determine sufficiently in advance the number of additional special educational school places required;
— there are no protocols in place for the sharing of information on SEN between pre-schools, primary schools, post primary schools and special schools to support children as they advance through the educational system; and
— 14,221 children were overdue an assessment of needs in December 2024, nearly 13,000 children are waiting for initial contact with a Children's Disability Network Team, and tens of thousands of children are on primary care wait lists for treatment, adding further pressure on schools and educators to support children with additional unmet needs;
recognises that:
— parents and educators continue to have significant concerns about the current system of planning for SEN provision where schools are put under pressure at short notice to open classes without adequate resourcing, appropriate accommodation or training for staff, and with minimal specialised support; and
— 399 new special classes were announced for the 2025/26 school year earlier this month, but many children will struggle to secure places appropriate to their needs in their local community; and
calls on the Government to:
— ensure the right of every child to an appropriate school place in their general locality is fulfilled in September 2025;
— introduce a central application system for special educational places to commence for the 2026/27 school year, and develop protocols on the sharing of information at every step of the educational system;
— provide appropriate means of transport for children with additional educational needs to access their school place;
— guarantee that every school will receive sufficient funding for the full equipping of classrooms including modular builds, sensory and play spaces, and assistive technology when new special classes are opened;
— publish the finalised review of the EPSEN Act and commit to bringing forward amending proposals as necessary and to commencing the long delayed measures;
— provide a timeline for the national rollout of in-school therapists through the ETSS to provide certainty for schools and parents, and introduce play, art, music and other relevant therapies and in-school counselling where appropriate;
— lift the arbitrary cap on SNAs, and ensure that positions are funded when the NCSE has recommended a post is required, remove the 72 hour obligation on SNAs, and continue to support the professionalisation of the SNA role;
— introduce an initial teacher education programme for student teachers allowing them to complete at least one school placement in an additional needs setting, and introduce free upskilling in SEN for existing teachers; and
— ensure every teacher is fully trained in seizure first aid, amend the assault leave scheme, and develop a new position in schools of a Special Education Needs Officer.
Debate resumed on amendment No. 1:
To delete all words after "Dáil Éireann" and substitute the following:
"notes that:
— a child's right to education is enshrined in the Constitution and, under the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, must be accessible on an equal basis with others in the community in which they live; and
— the Government is committed to ensuring that each child with a Special Educational Need (SEN) has an appropriate school place, in line with their constitutional right and Programme for Government commitments;
further notes:
— the continued significant State investment of €2.9 billion in supporting the provision of special education, a 48 per cent increase since 2020;
— the significant increases in the allocation of special education teachers and Special Needs Assistants (SNAs) to support children with SEN in our schools which facilitates the National Council for Special Education (NCSE) in prioritising the allocation of all of these resources to children with the greatest level of need;
— the strategic initiatives introduced to provide for the continued accelerated delivery of special class places in mainstream schools and special school places with the number of special classes having doubled over the last five years, and 16 new special schools being established;
— Budget 2025 provided for up to 2,700 additional special education placements to include, 400 new special classes in mainstream schools and 300 additional special school places;
— the fact that 399 of these new special classes are now sanctioned for the coming school year, three months earlier than previously thought, and that significant progress is being made in relation to the establishment of five new special schools and the expansion of provision in other special schools;
— the intention to use Section 37A to compel a school who has available accommodation and has been engaged with over an extended period to open special classes;
— the fact that over 3,700 new special classes will be available across the country for the coming school year which should ensure that children can access a special class in their local area;
— the significant investment in the expansion of staffing at the NCSE to assist families of children with SENs in all aspects of their educational journey, including accessing a placement appropriate to their needs;
— the establishment of the D15 Taskforce to support forward planning for special education provision in the area, and similar initiatives in other areas;
— the commitment in the Programme for Government to introduce a common application system;
— the recent publication of a circular letter by the Department of Education setting out new guidelines for schools in relation to the review of special education placements and the removal of the need for parents to seek updated professional reports where a student is transitioning from a primary special class to a post-primary special class of the same designation;
— the intention to introduce a National Therapy Service (NTS) in education to be delivered by the NCSE, the NTS will commence in special schools and subsequently extend to schools with special classes and mainstream provision, and it is intended that the service will be rolled out on a phased basis in some special schools at a later stage in the 2025/2026 school year, with a wider roll-out for the 2026/2027 school year;
— the establishment of the Educational Therapy Support Service in the NCSE, Regional therapy supports which includes Teacher Professional Learning, and follow up in school support will be available nationally from September 2026;
— sustained in-school support delivered by Speech and Language Therapists and Occupational Therapists, based on the therapy element of the School Inclusion Model is currently being delivered to 22 schools in the Eastern Region, further schools will have access to this support in the Western Region in September 2025;
— the introduction of an integrated model of enhanced in-school therapy supports pilot, in conjunction with the Health Service Executive, this pilot ensures the educational, health and social needs of children and young people are met through the reinstatement of therapy services onsite in special schools;
— the funding provided for the training and upskilling of teachers and SNAs who support children with special education needs;
— the request by the Minister for Education to the Teaching Council to include a mandatory assessed placement period in a special class or a special school setting in all initial teaching education programmes;
— the extensive review by the Department of Education of the Education for Persons with Special Educational Needs Act 2004 will be published in the coming weeks;
— the establishment of a new SNA Workforce Development Unit by the Department of Education which is engaging with SNAs, schools, unions and stakeholders, which recognises the essential role played by SNAs in our school and which is underpinned by a new national training programme for SNAs costing €1.9 million recently announced in conjunction with Atlantic Technological University;
— the work underway on a redeployment scheme for SNAs which for the first time, will allow SNAs in posts which may no longer be required for reasons such as falling enrolments, reduced care needs or changing demographics, to be redeployed to a school which has a vacant post;
— the provision of circa €264 million in 2024, to support over 21,700 children with SEN access school transport to attend school each day which is a 68 per cent increase since 2021;
— the significant level of funding and supports being provided to schools to deliver accommodation for special classes, including school building projects, the repurposing of available rooms, and the provision of modular accommodation;
— the review of the assistive technology scheme to ensure all children who need technology to access the curriculum receive it through a streamlined process which is underpinned by funding of €5 million, an increase of €2 million since 2020;
— the introduction of the Counselling in Primary Schools Pilot 2023-2025 to support children's wellbeing and mental health in primary schools and the recent introduction of the new national programme (Neart) of mental health and wellbeing resources and training for post-primary schools that is delivered by Jigsaw in collaboration with the National Educational Psychological Service;
— the Department of Education has commenced a review of the Leave of Absence following Assault scheme, and is also finalising the terms and conditions of a new Occupational Injury Scheme for teachers;
— the range of resources that has been or will soon be made available to schools to enable them to support students' behaviour, including the publications by NCSE Relate Behaviour framework, Tusla Developing a Code of Behaviour: Guidelines for Schools and the Department of Education Understanding Behaviours of Concern and Responding to Crisis Situations Guidelines;
— the extensive programme of training in place, or planned, to support schools in managing student behaviour;
— the restoration of posts of responsibility in schools and the availability of additional hours from September 2025 to assist schools in coordinating their special education teaching provision; and
— the renewed focus of the Government on the area of disability services with a particular focus on improving the delivery of services for children with disabilities; and
calls on the Government to:
— take any necessary steps to ensure that every child with SEN who needs an appropriate school place has access to one in a timely manner;
— progress work on the development of a more inclusive education system for children with SENs by supporting them to attend their local school;
— continue to expand the number of special school places, special classes and special education teaching hours as required across the State;
— improve communication and outreach to parents of children with SEN to streamline the process by which parents apply for specialist school places, reducing the burden on them and improving the timelines, including the introduction of a common application procedure;
— continue to increase investment into the area of special education to ensure that every child can reach their full potential;
— support additional schools and students to benefit from the Summer Programme; and
— ensure that the NCSE will continue to engage intensively with parents and all educational partners to continue to increase capacity.".
I must now deal with a postponed division relating to the motion regarding special education. On Wednesday, 30 April, on the question, "That the amendment to the motion be agreed to", a division was claimed and in accordance with Standing Order 85(2), that division must be taken now.
Amendment put:
The Dáil divided: Tá, 85; Níl, 68; Staon, 0.
Tellers: Tá, Deputies Mary Butler and Emer Currie; Níl, Deputies Duncan Smith and Ivana Bacik.
Amendment declared carried.
Motion, as amended, put and declared carried.