I move: That Dáil Éireann: recognises that: — the State is systematically failing children with additional educational needs, their families, and the professionals who support them; — there is a chronic and worsening shortage of appropriate school places, denying children access and forcing other children to travel excessively long distances, often outside their own communities; — special schools for children with Mild General Learning Disabilities (MGLD) are being redesignated in practice and by stealth; — early intervention classes are being closed at a time when demand for early support has never been higher; — the vast majority of new special classes announced have been allocated to autism or Autism Spectrum Disorder, reflecting a continued pattern of concentration of provision in one category of support, despite the fact that students across the country present with a wide range of learning needs, including MGLD and language disorders, that require different educational supports and approaches; — the proposed changes in relation to access to school places based on assessment and diagnosis have the potential to further redesignate classes and or schools, dilute expertise in special education teaching and support; — access to essential therapies, both in school and in the community, is disgracefully lacking; — the inclusive special classes announced by the Government last week are no such thing, offering the same level of support with larger class sizes, they are a further diminution of support, introduced with no consultation; — Ireland has the largest class sizes in Europe, a reality that affects all children and particularly children with additional educational needs; — the decision to remove "complex needs" from the Special Education Teaching (SET) allocation criteria was a deliberate act of rationing, designed to reduce access to support under the guise of reform; — access to Special Needs Assistants (SNAs) remains restricted by an outdated Circular that ties support narrowly to "primary care needs", denying access to children with behavioural, sensory, emotional and communication needs; — the National Council for Special Education (NCSE) has an impossible task, and is forced to function as a rationing and gatekeeping body; — the Minister for Education and Youth has failed to provide the exact number of children with additional needs still awaiting an appropriate school place for the 2026/2027 academic year, disaggregated by county and educational setting (primary/post-primary, special class/special school); and — the system of inclusive education in Ireland is fundamentally broken, and as demand continues to rise, the State's response has been to ration access to essential supports in order to save costs, rather than to meet needs; condemns the Government for: — its abject failure to strategically invest, plan, and deliver appropriate school places and supports for all children with additional needs; — effectively denying children access to education based solely on their additional needs, thereby violating their fundamental rights; and — creating an environment where parents are forced to resort to legal action to vindicate their children's basic right to education; calls on the Government to: — establish an all-party Oireachtas Committee on the future of inclusive education, by June 2026, mandated to hear from all education stakeholders in a full public forum, and to report back with legislative and policy recommendations within 12 months; — immediately publish the exact number of children with additional needs still awaiting an appropriate school place for the 2026/2027 academic year, broken down by county and educational setting (primary/post-primary, special class/special school); — ensure that additional funding is provided to meet the unanticipated demand for school places for September 2026, to guarantee it does not reduce resources and funding elsewhere in the Department of Education and Youth; — immediately engage with the Save Our SNAs campaign to advance and implement their updated and improved Circular, ending the current cruel and arbitrary restriction of SNA access; — advance the SNA Redeployment Scheme and SNA Workforce Development Plan, in consultation with SNAs, to ensure recognition of their invaluable and expanded role; — immediately stop the cuts by stealth, redesignations and initiative announcements without consultation; — guarantee an appropriate school place, not merely an offer of a place, for every child with additional educational needs for September 2026; — reaffirm that genuine inclusion means the right of every child to attend their local school, alongside their peers, neighbours and friends; — expedite access to essential supports, including speech and language therapy, occupational therapy and psychological services within the school setting; — initiate an independent review of the role, function, and resourcing of the NCSE and Special Education Needs Organisers to improve efficiency, transparency and performance; — review and immediately increase the Special Education Teaching allocation model, to reverse the removal of complex needs from the qualifying criteria, and to ensure allocation is based on need rather than artificial caps or historical ratios; — commit to a multi-annual programme of class size reduction, reducing the average class size to at least the European Union average, beginning in Budget 2027, recognising that smaller classes are a prerequisite for inclusive education; — establish a time-bound school building delivery task force, with a mandate to ensure the expeditious and priority delivery of special schools and special classes, this task force must include relevant technical and departmental expertise and incorporate continuous engagement with local school communities and parents; and — to immediately reverse the decision to reintroduce Leaving Certificate and Junior Cycle fees, and to roll back the hike in school transport fees, including the doubling of fees for secondary students and the 33 per cent increase for primary pupils, in recognition of the ongoing cost-of-living crisis; and resolves that the current model of inclusive education is a failure, rejects the Government's rationing-by-stealth approach, and demands an immediate shift towards a properly resourced system, that guarantees equal access and opportunity and where no child is left behind, this shift will be well informed through the hearings of an all-party Oireachtas Committee on the future of inclusive education. Across the State, thousands of families have been failed, ignored and exhausted by a system that claims to offer inclusive education but instead delivers ration, denial and despair. The State is systematically failing children with additional educational needs. That is not hyperbole; that is the lived reality of parents forced into legal action to vindicate their child's most basic right, the right to an education. It is the reality of children travelling impossible distances outside of their own communities because there is no school place for them at home. It is the reality of children who are lucky to have a school place but who are there for an hour a day because the support simply is not there. It is also the reality of professionals, principals, teachers, special needs assistants, SNAs, and therapists who are forced to work in a system that fails children and who themselves are not adequately supported. Time and again, whether it be access to SNAs, language disorder classes, mild-general learning disability special schools or early intervention classes, the Government's response is diminution, cuts by stealth and reduction or withdrawal of support - in some cases, withdrawal of support before that support even materialises. It is cutting corners and it is cutting children off. The removal of complex needs from the special education teaching allocation criteria is another example of this - a deliberate act of rationing disguised as reform. The Government and the National Council for Special Education, NCSE, restrict SNA access through an outdated circular that ties support to narrow primary care needs, ignoring behavioural, sensory, emotional and communication needs. They force parents to the courts to vindicate their children's rights and spends millions of taxpayers' euro in the process. We have the largest class sizes in Europe. For children with additional needs, that really is devastating. The Minister, Deputy Helen McEntee, as Minister, did nothing about this. Will the Minister, Deputy Naughton, be the same? Sinn Féin condemns this Government's abject failure to plan, invest and deliver. It is violating children's fundamental rights but condemnation is not enough; we need action. We need a guarantee of appropriate school places for every child for September 2026, not merely an offer of a place but a real place. We need expedited access to speech and language therapy, SLT, occupational therapy, OT, and psychological services within schools. We need an independent review of the NCSE and special educational needs organisers, SENOs. We need the special education teaching, SET, allocation model reviewed and increased, reversing the removal of complex needs. We need a multi-annual programme to reduce class sizes to at least the EU average, starting in budget 2027. We need a timebound school building delivery task force. We need an all-party Oireachtas committee on the future of inclusive education to be established in June 2026. This would be a Sláintecare committee for inclusive education to build a cross-party consensus on the long-term vision for inclusive education in Ireland and to make policy recommendations. We need the exact number of children without a school place for September published immediately. We need the cuts by stealth stopped. We need an end to the cruel restriction of SNA access. I ask the Minister to please engage with the Save Our SNAs campaign and advance their updated circular now. In this cost-of-living crisis that the Government seems so oblivious to, we need to reverse the reintroduction of exam fees and the hike in school transport fees. The current model of inclusive education is broken. Rationing by stealth must end. No child should be left behind. I ask the Government to please support this motion and let us begin the real work of building a system that guarantees equal access and opportunity for every single child.

Sentiment score: -0.04

Hear, hear.

Sentiment score: 0.00

I thank those who contributed to the debate. The Government is not opposing the motion but this is only welcome if it actually acts on the proposals contained in it. The reason we brought forward this motion is because of a failure to predict and respond to the demand for special education. There are ample examples of Government failure. This year, it was a case of establish a portal, close a portal and lock people out of the system. There was a supplementary budget, a supplementary to the supplementary budget and delays. Delays mean access denied. We have a significant number of contributions of evidence and opinion, including the EPSEN review, the report of the Oireachtas Committee on Disability Matters, any amount of hearings of the Oireachtas education committee and the Department's own roadmap for inclusion. Fórsa and the teachers' unions know exactly what needs to be done. Across the board, and it is certainly my experience, we have a Department and Government that do not listen. If ever we needed an example of that, all we have to do is look at the Taoiseach. The last time we were here with a Sinn Féin motion talking about the SNA debacle of the Government's own making, the Taoiseach said we have to be careful if we look for extra SNAs. Today, he said that the Save our SNAs campaign was a flawed campaign. That is to completely deny the fact that communities across the country - families, parents, SNAs and school communities - know exactly what needs to be done. It is now time for the Government, the Department, the Minister and the Minister of State to listen.

Sentiment score: 0.04