March 04 2010

Dáil Debates

• Priority Questions: Review SNAs at school in Mayo
• Priority Questions: Consequence of cuts to SNAs
• Resource cuts to school in Dublin 24
• Adjournment Debate: Lack of opening of Knocknamann at St. Itas, Portrane
• Adjournment Debate: Lack of SENO in Co. Clare

DÁIL DEBATES

• Priority Questions: Review SNAs at school in Mayo

Deputy John O’Mahony (FG): asked the Minister for Education and Science the criteria used to review the special needs assistants in a school (details supplied) in County Mayo; Minister for Education and Science (Deputy Batt O’Keeffe): The Deputy will be aware that the National Council for Special Education, NCSE, is an independent agency with responsibility for determining the appropriate staffing levels in respect of the support of pupils with special educational needs in mainstream and special schools. He will also be aware that the NCSE, through its network of local special educational needs organisers, SENOs, is carrying out a review of special needs assistant, SNA, allocations in all schools. The purpose of this review is to ensure that all SNA posts meet the criteria governing their allocation, as outlined in my Department’s circular 07/02, which states: “Applications for a SNA should be considered where, for example, a pupil has a significant medical need for such assistance, a significant impairment of physical or sensory function or where their behaviour is such that they are a danger to themselves or to other pupils.”The criteria being applied in the review are those set out in my Department’s circulars. There has been no change in these criteria. As part of the review, the NCSE will identify and suppress any surplus posts that do not meet the scheme’s criteria, for example, posts that have been retained when a pupil’s care needs have diminished or when the pupil has left. The allocation for any school and any adjustments to that allocation depend on a number of factors, such as the number of pupils with care-medical needs leaving, the number of new pupils, the changing needs of the pupils and any surplus identified. SENOs are communicating the outcome of the review directly to schools as the review progresses. I understand that the council has informed the school in question of the outcome of its review. It is expected that the NCSE will have completed the review by the end of March 2010. The Deputy is fully aware that I have prioritised the provision of special education supports to schools. This is a new and key Government policy. However, this does not mean that resources allocated in response to various historical factors are retained in schools ad infinitum. At a time of constrained resources, it is essential that we ensure that public resources, both staff and resources, are deployed as effectively as possible. Leaving resources in an area not in accordance with criteria means that public resources are not available for another deserving area. I am sure the Deputy shares my concern about ensuring a consistent application of policy in the allocation of special needs supports. This is all that is occurring at the moment. There is no question of SNA posts being removed from schools where they continue to meet the scheme’s criteria. I can assure the Deputy that supports will continue to be made available to schools that have enrolled pupils who qualify for such support and children with special educational needs will continue to have access to an appropriate education in line with my Department’s policy.

Deputy John O’Mahony: The criteria are the problem. This is the meanest cut of all to St. Anthony’s in Castlebar, which is a special school. Is the Minister aware that a SENO is visiting it today to give a final decision? Does he know what the decision will be? He stated that no necessary posts will be removed.

Deputy Batt O’Keeffe: Where the child meets the criteria.

Deputy John O’Mahony: The criteria are the problem. Why is there a need for a Minister for Education and Science if he hides behind the NCSE, which states in its visionary statement that it is “committed to a special education system that is person-centred, family-focused and is responsive to the needs of all”? I would have loved for the Minister to have gone to St. Anthony’s Special School last Thursday night to tell parents and staff that the review would fulfil the school’s need. If he does not believe me, he should ask the Government Deputies who attended. Will he intervene? We are discussing SNAs in special schools, not mainstream schools. This matter is above politics and I appeal to the Minister to examine the criteria. Under the review, the school has lost four SNAs on an average salary of approximately €25,000. Last Thursday, the Minister’s supporters told me that the Minister for Defence’s handshake would pay those SNAs for one year. I have a final point to make.

An Leas-Cheann Comhairle: I will call the Deputy again. This is Question Time.

Deputy Batt O’Keeffe: This is an emotive issue that should be above politics. Of my budget of €9 billion, €1.2 billion is spent on special needs. The Government takes the matter seriously. I will elucidate the facts concerning the school in question. It is a special school with 39 pupils on its roll and 24 staff comprising an administrative principal, six teachers, four parttime teachers and 13 SNAs. The NESC has completed its review and will inform the school officially today. From my notes, I understand that the number of SNAs will drop from 13 to ten. The ratio between the school’s staffing levels and its number of children is approximately6.5:1. St. Anthony’s is a mild general learning disability school. It is understood that up to ten of its children have autism. Were a special autism unit established in the school, the staffing level would be one teacher and two SNAs and the pupil-teacher ratio would be 5:1 or 6:1.

Deputy John O’Mahony: That is what it should be.

Deputy Batt O’Keeffe: I advise the school to liaise with the NCSE to ensure that proper designation is included. I am concerned that children are appropriately placed and that children with special needs are differentiated.

Deputy John O’Mahony: I invite the Minister to visit the stated school and tell the staff and pupils what he has told me. He has confirmed the need for everything they have been allocated. The Minister says there is a roll-back on one special needs assistant, SNA. Either the Minister or someone acting on his behalf has looked at the criteria and found there is still a difficulty. Cutbacks in teaching numbers in a school come into force the following September. The current cutbacks will be rolled out next Easter. The school is expected to cope with this situation in the middle of the school year, when it is already coping with 13 SNAs. That is not acceptable. Some 20,000 people have joined a Facebook campaign and 5,000 signatures have been collected. I ask the Minister to look at this matter again.

Deputy Batt O’Keeffe: Legislation has given independence to the National Council for Special Education, NCSE. I do not interfere in allocating or removing posts. It would be remiss of me to do so. The information given to me suggests that one of the SNAs was carrying out secretarial duties in the school and the provision for which that person was employed no longer existed.

Deputy John O’Mahony: I invite the Minister to go and tell the school that.

Deputy Batt O’Keeffe: I am only telling the Deputy what was reported to me. If that is the case, the SNA should not be in the school.

Deputy Ruairí Quinn: Does the Minister have that report in writing?

Deputy John O’Mahony: Does the Minister have confirmation of that?

Deputy Brian Hayes: The Minister should go down and tell them that.

Deputy John O’Mahony: He should go down and tell them that.

Deputy Batt O’Keeffe: That is the report I received from the NCSE. 

• Priority Questions: Consequence of cuts to SNAs

Deputy Bernard J. Durkan (FG): asked the Minister for Education and Science if his attention has been drawn to the likely consequences of the reduction and or the removal of special needs assistants from the classroom in various schools throughout the country; his views on whether the likely damage to the education structure in schools that are already overburdened with responsibility and high pupil-teacher ratios, the likelihood that this development will permanently scar the education system and lead to a deterioration of the quality of education at a time of greatest requirement;

Minister for Education and Science (Deputy Batt O’Keeffe): The Deputy will be aware special education continues to be a key Government policy. There has been unprecedented investment in providing supports for pupils with special needs in recent years. There are now about 20,000 adults in our schools working solely with pupils with special needs. This figure includes more than 10,000 special needs assistants, SNAs, 8,600 resource and learning support teachers, more than 1,100 special school teachers and hundreds of other teachers in special classes. More than 23,000 teachers availed of training places provided by the Special Education Support Service, SESS, in 2009 which were designed to ensure a quality service that promotes inclusiveness, collaboration and equality of access to educational opportunities for students with special educational needs. More than €1 billion is being spent in supporting special educational provision this year. As well as this significant increase in the numbers of additional teachers and special needs assistants providing appropriate education and care supports for children with special educational needs, much investment has taken place in the provision of transport, specialist school accommodation, home tuition, assistive technology and equipment. My Department is very supportive of the SNA scheme, which has been a key factor in both ensuring the successful integration of children with special educational needs into mainstream education and providing support to pupils enrolled in special schools and special classes. The Deputy will be aware that the National Council for Special Education, NCSE, through its network of local special educational needs organisers, SENOs, is carrying out a review of SNA allocations in all schools with a view to ensuring that the criteria governing the allocation of such posts are properly met. This exercise may result in the identification of surplus posts which are in the system and do not meet the current criteria, in other words, posts that have been retained when a pupil’s care needs have diminished or where the pupil has left. At the same time, the NCSE is allocating additional posts where the criteria are met. While there is no question of SNA posts being removed from schools where they continue to meet the scheme’s criteria, there is also no question of posts being left in schools where they are deemed to be surplus to pupils’ care needs. At a time of constrained resources it is essential we ensure public resources, both staff and resources, are deployed as effectively as possible. Resources left in an area that are not in accordance with criteria mean public resources are not available for another deserving area. I emphasise that children with special educational needs will continue to receive an education appropriate to their needs. The NCSE will continue to support schools, parents, children and teachers and resources will continue to be allocated to schools to meet children’s needs in line with my Department’s policy.

Deputy Brian Hayes (FG): How many special needs assistants have lost their position in the past six months?

Deputy Batt O’Keeffe: I have made a statement on this matter. As the Deputy will be aware, some special needs assistants have been——

Deputy Brian Hayes: I asked a straight question. Will the Minister answer it?

An Leas-Cheann Comhairle: Please allow the Minister to reply without interruption.

Deputy Brian Hayes: I do not want to hear waffle.

An Leas-Cheann Comhairle: The Minister is entitled to answer in the manner he chooses.

Deputy Batt O’Keeffe: I made and communicated a decision that some posts are being created in schools while others are being removed. I will not set out the factual position until the review, which is due for completion at the end of March, has concluded.

Deputy Brian Hayes: The Minister has stated regularly in the House and elsewhere that in the event of a student with a special needs assistant leaving a school, the SNA post should be removed. I concur with his position on that issue. How many such cases has he encountered?

Deputy Batt O’Keeffe: As the Deputy is aware, the National Council for Special Education is independent of the Minister and I do not interfere in its operations. While I obtain information from the council, it would not be appropriate at this point to provide figures on the current position given that the final figure will be different. The NSCE is removing some SNA posts and creating new posts elsewhere.

Deputy Brian Hayes: The Minister should give us the figures.

Deputy Batt O’Keeffe: We do not know what is the position at this point.

Deputy Brian Hayes: I remind the Minister that this is the national Parliament and it, rather than the Minister, established the National Council for Special Education. If this Parliament determines to find out the number of posts lost, it should be given the relevant information. The view abroad is that the NCSE is doing the Minister’s dirty work and he is hiding behind a new quango, having instructed it to remove 10% or more than 1,000 of the SNA posts. People believe the council is taking the flak and the Minister is able to hide behind the convenient propaganda that this is a matter for the NCSE. That excuse does not wash.

An Leas-Cheann Comhairle: The Deputy must ask a question.

Deputy Brian Hayes: Is the Minister satisfied with the manner in which the NCSE has consulted the parents of children from whom it is removing SNA posts? Is he satisfied with the alleged appeals system put in place, which involves a senior special educational needs organiser, SENO, coming to a view of a decision taken by an SENO in another county? I have asked two straight questions.

Deputy Batt O’Keeffe: The Deputy indicated I am hiding behind the NCSE. This Parliament established the National Council for Special Education as an independent body. The Minister should not interfere in the operations of the council, which has a job to do. Criteria have been laid down for determining whether a child requires a special needs assistant. The scheme is demand led and if a child meets the criteria, a special needs assistant is provided. If a child with special needs moves on, the SNA post should be vacated. I am glad the Deputy concurs with me in that regard.In certain circumstances, a child with special needs will no longer require the same level of support. We are trying to train children with special needs to cope with independent living. Thankfully, many hundreds of them now live independently as a result of the support they received. Needs will, therefore, diminish. The Deputy asked about consultation with parents. I have made clear that the NationalCouncil for Special Education is prepared to discuss with schools the set up in a school and the appropriateness of the placement of children with special needs in the school. The council is also prepared to talk to parents. In response to the next question, which has been tabled by the Deputy and relates to a specific school, I will outline in greater detail what is being done in the school in question.

Deputy Brian Hayes: Is the Minister satisfied with the NSCE’s consultation with parents?

Deputy Batt O’Keeffe: It is important that a proper appeals system is in place.

Deputy Brian Hayes: Is the Minister satisfied with the current system?

Deputy Batt O’Keeffe: I have piloted 22 schools and I have indicated clearly to the NCSE that where there are difficulties, because this is emotionally charged and parents are genuinely concerned, to meet through the school with parents whose children would be affected. That is important. 

• Resource cuts to school in Dublin 24

Deputy Ulick Burke (FG): asked the Minister for Education and Science if, in the case of a school (details supplied) in Dublin 24, he will confirm that no further teachers and special needs assistants will be lost at that school;

Deputy Batt O’Keeffe: The Deputy will be aware that the National Council for Special Education, NCSE, is an independent agency with responsibility for determining the appropriate staffing levels in the support of pupils with special educational needs in mainstream and special schools.

Deputy Ruairí Quinn: That comes as a complete surprise.

Minister for Education and Science (Deputy Batt O’Keeffe): The Deputy will also be aware that the NCSE, through its network of local special educational needs organisers, SENOs, is at present carrying out a review on the allocation of SNAs in schools with a view to ensuring the criteria governing the allocation of such posts are properly met. This exercise may result in the identification of surplus posts which are in the system and which do not meet the current criteria, such as posts that have been retained when a pupil’s care needs have diminished or where the pupil has left. At the same time the NCSE is allocating additional posts where the criteria are met. The current review relates to SNA posts. No decision has been taken on teacher posts. Falling enrolments would be one of the factors to be considered in this context. However, any change in the profile of the pupils being enrolled in special schools will also be taken into account. In the case of the school in question, the NCSE is committed to engaging with the school authorities and all other relevant State agencies to manage the situation in the short term and to ensure a sound basis for staff levels in the interest of pupils. The NCSE is also arranging to meet parents individually in consultation with the school authorities. This process is ongoing. A meeting took place on Friday last, 26 February, between the NCSE and the school authorities. Without prejudice to the allocation role of the NCSE, officials from my Department also attended this meeting. The NCSE is working constructively with the school authorities to resolve any outstanding matters. It is important that all schools work constructively with the NCSE on any staffing issues. It is not appropriate for my Department to intervene in the allocation process. The Deputy is fully aware that I have prioritised the provision of special education supports to schools. This is a key Government policy. However, this does not mean that resources, allocated in response to various historical factors, are retained in schools ad infinitum. At a time of constrained resources, it is essential we ensure public resources, both staff and other resources, are deployed as effectively as possible. Resources left in an area that are not in accordance with criteria mean public resources are not available for another deserving area. I am sure the Deputy shares my concern to ensure there is a consistent application of policy in the allocation of special needs supports throughout the country. This is all that is happening at present. I assure the Deputy that supports will continue to be made available to schools which have enrolled pupils who qualify for such support and children with special educational needs will continue to have access to an appropriate education in line with my Department’s policy.

Deputy Brian Hayes: I invite the Minister, Deputy Batt O’Keeffe, to visit this school in Balrothery in my constituency, which is also that of the Minister of State, Deputy Conor  Lenihan, to see at first hand that school, those children and the teachers in that school. If those children were not in that school, there would be nowhere else for them because many of them attempted to go to other schools but could not find a place because of the mainstream situation there. These children have nowhere else to go. The NCSE originally proposed that 60% of the teacher and SNA provision in that school would be lost by September next. I put it to the Minister that that makes that school unviable. I put it him that there is no way the school can function with such a loss of personnel. The community I represent, which the Minister of State, Deputy Conor Lenihan, represents along with Deputies Rabbitte and O’Connor, wants to know whether the Minister, Deputy Batt O’Keeffe, will intervene directly to stop the loss of four further SNAs on 12 April.

Deputy Batt O’Keeffe: It is important for me to set out the position with the school. It is a special school and it is supposed to be catering for mild general learning disability. There are now 89 pupils enrolled. When the NCSE undertook its review in the school, it discovered that 23 of the pupils did not have a mild general learning disability——

Deputy Brian Hayes: That is countered by the school.

Deputy Batt O’Keeffe: ——that five of the pupils had ASD and seven of the pupils had a moderate general learning disability.

Deputy Brian Hayes: Tell that to the parents.

Deputy Batt O’Keeffe: Some of the other students did not have any assessed special educational need. The school has 89 pupils with a staffing of an administrative principal, 15 teachers, four teachers who provide special subject hours and 17 special needs assistants. In 2002-03, there were 122 pupils and the school had one teacher extra with the same number of SNAs. Even though there has been a drop in the number of pupils, the school has maintained the number of SNAs. The fall in enrolment together with the large number of children who do not meet the official criteria for the school means that the current staffing of the school is excessive. The NCSE advised the school on 19 February last that four SNA posts would be suppressed. It has alerted the school to the possibility that a further four SNA posts will be suppressed with effect from 2 April. None the less, it is anxious to work with the school to support the children with ASD and moderate GLD. For example, if the school were to open a class for children with autism, this would need one teacher and two SNAs. No decision has been taken on teacher posts. Falling enrolments would be one of the factors to be considered in this context. However, any change in the profile of the pupils——

An Leas-Cheann Comhairle: I want to take a supplementary question from Deputy Hayes.

Deputy Batt O’Keeffe: It is important I get the facts on the record.

Deputy Brian Hayes: I am glad the Minister gets the facts because they are changing day in, day out. The initial position of the NCSE was that it had jurisdiction over this school when it came to teaching posts. Now the Minister has changed the story. Now his Department is telling me, through him, that he will decide on teaching posts. This is being made up as the Minister goes along between the NCSE and the Department. Will the Minister visit the school? He can put any fancy term he wants on an educational disability that the NCSE has told him to tell me in this House today, but he must visit the school and see these children. These are challenging children. In many circumstances, one SNA is needed per child as a means of trying to get the learning opportunity for everyone verified in that school. Mid-year, the Minister and the Government has already taken away four SNA posts from this school and is now proposing to take away another four posts. Is that fair?

Deputy Batt O’Keeffe: It is important that children are placed appropriately.

Deputy Brian Hayes: Yes.

Deputy Brian Hayes: It is important that if——

Deputy Brian Hayes: Where else can they go?

Deputy Batt O’Keeffe: The pupil-teacher ratio for children who have autism is 6:1.

Deputy Brian Hayes: In the units.

Deputy Batt O’Keeffe: The pupil-teacher ratio for children who have moderate general learning disability is 8:1. The pupil-teacher ratio for children who have mild general learning disability is 11:1 and the Department accepts 9:1. I am equally concerned about those children. I am equally concerned that they get the proper supports in the proper environment and that all necessary support is in place for them. There are 23 children in the school who have not been assessed as having special needs. We have arranged for the National Educational Psychological Service, NEPS, to carry out an analysis of the needs of those children——

Deputy Brian Hayes: Of every one of those 23 children?

Deputy Batt O’Keeffe: ——and that is agreed. We have asked the school to engage with the NCSE. We are prepared to get NEPS to examine and categorise those children properly in order that they are provided with the proper and necessary supports they are due. 

• Adjournment Debate: Lack of opening of Knocknamann at St. Itas, Portrane

Deputy Terence Flanagan (FG): I thank the Office of the Ceann Comhairle for the opportunity to raise this extremely important issue on behalf of the residents of the St. Joseph’s Association intellectual disability service at St. Ita’s Hospital in Portrane, County Dublin, and their families. It is a scandalous situation that Knockamann, the new residential development at the hospital comprising ten residential bungalows and a day centre, is still not open even though it was completed 14 months ago and handed over to the HSE eight months ago. It is very disappointing and demoralising that the 60 patients due to move there must instead remain in St. Ita’s, a Victorian hospital in a poor state of disrepair which the Inspector of Mental Health Services has indicated repeatedly is in urgent need of refurbishment. The transfer of 60 residents to Knockamann was to allow for the refurbishment of the existing service for the remaining patients and to close unsuitable areas of the hospital. That is on hold because of the farcical situation in which we now find ourselves. The Government’s public service embargo is having a tangible effect on the service. Of the 40 new staff who were to be recruited, only 27 have thus far been appointed. St. Joseph’s Association was never informed that this would be an obstacle to progress but instead was consistently reassured that the move would take place on schedule. This delay is an injustice to the inpatients in St. Ita’s Hospital who can only look at the new facility while they remain trapped in the same situation in which they have been for 11 years, waiting to be moved. It would take a relatively small sum of money, less than €1 million, to resolve the situation. The overall budget for the health service is €11 billion, while €4 billion has been put into the zombie Anglo Irish Bank and with another €4 billion to €6 billion of taxpayers’ money to follow. I ask the Minister of State to give the matter careful consideration. People’s lives are at stake and they and their families have been waiting long enough for what they were promised. The Minister of State must take action to correct this difficult situation.

Deputy James Reilly: I thank my colleague, Deputy Terence Flanagan, for sharing time. For inpatients with intellectual disabilities, St. Ita’s is their home. Intellectual disability is disability for life. Yet these people are asked to live in surroundings that have been described by the Inspector for Mental Health Services in stark terms, with paint peeling off walls, dirt in corners and patients wandering aimlessly in the Victorian, Dickensian conditions. Every society is judged by how it treats its most vulnerable members. There was cause for great hope — if not quite celebration — when Knockamann was built, a gleaming new unit on the grounds of St. Ita’s Hospital, within view of the clients it is supposed to serve. They find it difficult to understand why it lies idle, guarded by a security man, instead of used for the purpose for which it was built. If the unit were functional, 60 patients could be moved from their current inadequate accommodations to modern facilities that would afford them much greater dignity. The additional staff would be able to provide a proper day service, more occupational therapy and so on, and a greater sense of normality. Instead these people have been left in the conditions I have described. I understand it cost €14 million to build the facility that has been left idle. That is a penny wise and pound foolish approach. Even after the 60 patients are moved to Knockamann, some 100 others with intellectual disabilities will remain in the main block of St. Ita’s Hospital. There must be an effort to alleviate the stifling conditions in which these people live. They are not there because they are ill; this is their home. I conclude by complimenting the staff who do such excellent work. Equally, however, I wish to refer to the stupidity of this public embargo, which has resulted in such a penny wise and pound foolish approach. Furthermore, it has resulted in the loss abroad of well-trained nurses, on whom much money has been spent for training. When this recruitment ban madness ends, we will find ourselves short of nurses.

Minister of State at the Department of Health and Children (Deputy Barry Andrews): I will be taking this Adjournment matter on behalf of my colleague, the Minister for Health and Children. I thank Deputies Terence Flanagan and Reilly for raising this matter and am pleased to take this opportunity to outline the position in respect of St. Joseph’s Intellectual Disability Services, which are located on the campus of St. Ita’s Hospital, Portrane, County Dublin. As the Deputies are aware, the construction and equipping of a new 60-bed residential development, comprising ten bungalows and a day resource centre for clients of St. Joseph’s Intellectual Disabilities Services, is complete. This development, Knockamann, was handed over to the HSE in July 2009. It forms a crucial part in progressing national policy in effecting the transfer of clients with intellectual disabilities who currently are in psychiatric hospitals to more appropriate accommodation. It is the intention of the HSE to commission the entire development, that is, the residential bungalows and the day resource centre, as soon as possible. However, additional staff of various grades would be required to do so. This must be achieved in line with the HSE’s national service plan for 2010 and with the various Government directives on recruitment and promotion within the public service. In order to implement savings measures on public service numbers, the Government decided that with effect from 27 March 2009 to the end of 2010, no post in the public sector, however arising, may be filled by recruitment, promotion or payment of an allowance for the performance of duties at a higher grade. The decision applies to all grades of permanent and temporary staff, including nursing, notwithstanding a number of specific exemptions. The Government decision was modulated to ensure that key services are maintained in so far as possible in health services, particularly in respect of children at risk, older people and persons with a disability. A business case was submitted by the HSE to the Department of Health and Children in November 2009 on the staffing of the Knockamann development. As nursing staff are not a derogated grade under the current moratorium on recruitment and the public services, specific sanction is required to fill the posts needed to open the development. Having considered the business case, the Department of Health and Children requested some supplementary information, particularly on the skill mix of the posts that were required. It is anticipated that this will be forwarded to the Department shortly. Any resolution of this matter must be achieved in the context of vacancies arising elsewhere in the health services and within the overall context of the employment control framework of the HSE. I wish to assure the Deputies that the Department is working closely with the HSE to endeavour to resolve the matter within the resources available at this time.

Deputy Terence Flanagan: That is a disgraceful response. Less than €1 million is required. 

• Adjournment Debate: Lack of SENO in Co. Clare

Deputy Pat Breen (FG): I am the last man standing this evening. I take this opportunity to thank the Ceann Comhairle for facilitating me in raising in an Adjournment debate what is an important matter for parents in east County Clare. The position of a special educational needs organiser, SENO, has been vacant in that area since September 2009 and the non filling of the vacancy is having a significant impact on the area’s most vulnerable children. The NationalCouncil for Special Education, NCSE, employs SENOs to be responsible for allocating additional teaching and other resource to support children with special needs at local level. The failure, for the past six months, to appoint a special educational needs organiser, SENO, for the east Clare area, which includes all the secondary schools in Ennis, means that applications for children who have been identified, assessed and recommended for resource teaching support or special needs assistance are not being processed since the school year began last September.Heretofore there were three SENOs employed in County Clare. One dealt with east Clare, including parts of north Tipperary, one with the west Clare area and the third with cases in the south west and south east areas of the county, including parts of west Limerick. Since the vacancy for a SENO in east Clare arose, the area has been left without service. The two existing SENOs support schools in their own areas and are already overloaded with cases. In the past six months they were expected to deal with an additional workload from east Clare. As result, envelopes containing applications for help for children in the east Clare area have not been opened and files are piling up. The provision of special needs assistants, SNAs, and resource teachers has proved a lifeline for many children. A mother of a special needs child from Mount Shannon in east Clare recently spoke on the local radio station, Clare FM, about her experience and how her daughter had benefited from the SNA scheme. She said: “It has made such a difference to my daughter’s life. She is now accepted by other children in the school and she is reaching her full potential.” These are very touching words. Early education is a key step in a child’s development and early intervention is vital. These children in east Clare desperately require assistance and are being discriminated against on the basis of the geographical location of their schools. They have been left sitting in their classrooms without the additional support they require since last September. The situation is deplorable and cannot be allowed to continue. The provision of resource teacher supports and special needs assistants has played a pivotal role in the integration of children with special needs in mainstream classrooms and is helping to break the cycle of stigma. Parents of special needs children must battle against many obstacles in the fight to get a fair deal for their children. The father of a child from east Clare expressed his frustration at the current situation when I met him last week. He said: “I have no one to talk to about my daughter’s case. When I rang Limerick I was told it was not in my area.” As Henry Van Dyke said: “Teach your students to use what talents they have. The woods would be very silent if no birds sang except those who sing best.” Thankfully, parents and teachers are breaking the silence to speak up for these children. They are extremely concerned that these children will never reach their potential and will be left behind to spend their lives trying to catch up. A threat is already hanging over many of these parents with the uncertainty regarding the number of special needs assistants who may receive P45s shortly. The National Council for Special Education is currently reviewing the allocation of these posts, on foot of a request from the Department. The criteria for this review is too restrictive. It does not take into consideration the child’s needs to access the curriculum and there is no appeals mechanism for schools and parents. If these SNAs are lost to our schools, it will be a backward step in the education of our children with special needs. I appeal to the Minister of State to bring this matter to the attention of the Minister and ask him to reconsider his position on this matter. I want a commitment that the vacant position for a special educational needs organiser will be filled immediately. I understand the position has been advertised. I want priority given to the special needs of these children. I want to see the backlog of cases in east Clare dealt with and I do not want to see more delays. Further delays in appointing an organiser will be a further disadvantage to these children. I hope the Minister of State will have good news this evening.

Deputy Barry Andrews: I am replying to this Adjournment matter on behalf of my colleague, the Minister for Education and Science, Deputy Batt O’Keeffe. I thank the Deputy for raising this issue as it gives me an opportunity to clarify the position in relation to the matter raised by him. An important feature of the Education for Persons with Special Educational Needs Act 2004 was the setting up of the National Council for Special Education, NCSE. The council was formally established on 1 October 2005 and was set up to improve the delivery of education services to persons with special educational needs arising from disabilities, with particular emphasis on children. The council’s remit includes the provision of a range of educational services at local and national level for students with special educational needs. In particular, its network of 89 special education needs organisers, SENOs, including 12 senior SENO positions based in over 40 NCSE offices throughout the State, co-ordinates special needs education provision at local level and arranges for the delivery of special educational services. They act as single points of contact for parents of students with special educational needs, schools and the health sector where appropriate. The responsibility for the deployment of the SENOs rests with the council. The NCSE is responsible, through its SENOs, for allocating special education supports, including resource teachers and SNAs to schools to support children with special educational needs. The council operates within the Department’s criteria in allocating such support. It has advised the Department that a SENO post in the council’s Ennis office, covering east County Clare and north County Tipperary became vacant unexpectedly during the current academic year. Having regard to the priority importance of front line SENO services, the council sought derogation from the moratorium on the filling of posts in the public service. I am pleased to advise the Deputy that this has been approved by the Departments of Education and Science and Finance. I understand that arrangements are now being made by the council to fill the post in question through the Public Appointments Service. It is expected that the appointment will be made shortly. I assure the House that when temporary SENO vacancies arise from time to time, for a variety of reasons, the council seeks to provide such cover from within existing resources. The council has advised the Department that temporary SENO cover is being provided in relation to the district to which he refers. I am also pleased to advise the House that in the context of enhancing the capacity of the council to co-ordinate the provision of services to children with special needs, approval has been given to the council for a further two new SENO posts. The council is also making arrangements for the deployment and filling of these posts. I thank the Deputy for raising the matter.

Deputy Pat Breen: I thank the Minister of State for that reply.

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