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Dáil Debates & Questions
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19 July 2011 Dáil Debates Parliamentary Questions
DÁIL DEBATES Deputy Éamon Ó Cuív (FF): I thank the Minister for Education and Skills, for coming to the House to join in what I hope will be a constructive debate on rural school transport. I am more than aware of the cost of rural school transport but I am also aware of its importance. I also know that we were forced to change the rules on school transport in the budget for 2011 due to the financial situation in which the country finds itself. As the Minister is aware, the school transport system as we know it dates back many years to its introduction in the 1960s. The way it operates is that a pupil, who, depending on his or her age, is a certain fixed distance from the school, gets free transport. Up to now that transport was provided as long as there were seven pupils on the bus route. In recent years we reduced it from three miles to two miles for the younger cohort and made it one seat for one student. They were two very expensive changes, but very good changes. After two major steps forward, the budget introduced one step back, which was the requirement to have ten students on a bus route before a service will be provided. The reality is that this change will predominantly affect small rural schools with two or three teachers. I believe we should consider a different way of providing the same service at the same cost to the Exchequer. In other words, there can be a win-win situation if we get our head around it. I propose that on a pilot basis and on a voluntary basis, small rural schools could apply to the Minister to get a block grant that would be approximately equivalent to the remote area grant the Department pays for the students who are too far away from the school and are entitled to free transport but are not on the school run. That would be added to the cost of the current arrangement for that school with the savings that were built in and the Department would agree to give that as a lump sum to the school. It would administer that fund, but schools would not do it on their own. At the moment the scheme is run by the Department of Education and Skills and Bus Éireann, and it is all very rigid and fixed. In this way the parents, school management and the companies that provide the rural transport service generally would get together and regard it as an adjunct to the rural transport service in their area. With that money they would set about creating a service designed by the school management and parents, and delivered by the school in conjunction with the rural transport companies. I suggest this be done on a pilot basis with no school being forced into this new arrangement. Knowing the fabric and attitudes of rural areas, I have no doubt that kind of self-help approach would be taken up in quite a number of the more rural areas where it is much easier to do but where the problem is now much more acute for the Minister. This is not a major problem in the big schools in the peri-urban areas. This problem is most acute for the very small schools, but their strength is knowledge of their people, co-ordination and their ability to get things done. If this proposal is accepted, we could get a win-win in the situation in which we find ourselves. We could make the savings and provide an even better service that works well and is utterly to the satisfaction of the parents and teachers in the school. I would not suggest this if we did not have rural transport companies that know the game, know how to tender, know how to do their work and have experience in this area. Many of these rural transport companies provide a service to the elderly in the middle of the morning. They could reorganise their business so that they are free at school times. I suggest we should start doing this with the small national schools and I believe we would get the synergies. When we were in government, some pilot work was done between the HSE and the rural transport companies. I had been very anxious that this would proceed much faster than it did. Even if the Minister cannot give me a positive response, I hope he will seriously consider implementing this on a pilot basis to see if it can work and become the new template. For many years we were told that only the Department of Education and Skills could design and do all the background work for small schools. Parents used to come to us and ask that they just be given the money and they would do it cheaper and better. There was enormous resistance to this devolving of power to local boards of management. It was the best thing that ever hit rural schools…It meant a great amount of work for parents and boards of management but they did it willingly. In many cases, when they did up the school, they went out and collected considerable extra money that allowed them to provide libraries, extensions and all sorts of other things that were never planned by the Department of Education and Skills. There are now fantastic facilities in schools because we looked to the very ethos of those communities, which is “give us the money and we will spend it efficiently and in a satisfactory way”. Minister for Education and Skills (Deputy Ruairí Quinn): I am replying on behalf of my colleague, the Minister of State at the Department of Education and Skills, Deputy Ciarán Cannon, who has responsibility for school transport among other things. I thank the Deputy for raising this matter as it provides me with an opportunity to outline the general position regarding school transport services. School transport is a very significant national operation involving the transportation of more than 123,000 children each day to primary and post-primary schools, including more than 8,000 children with special educational needs. Furthermore, it involves approximately 42 million journeys and more than 82 million km on 6,000 routes every school year. These services are delivered using a mix of Bus Éireann, both school transport and road passenger vehicles, private contractor vehicles, including private operator scheduled services, and Dublin Bus, Irish Rail, DART and Luas where practicable. The Deputy will be aware that the value for money review of the school transport schemes, which was published last March, considered a number of possible approaches through which the State can seek to support school transport in line with the overall objectives of the scheme. The report concluded that, particularly in the context of complexities of deciding on eligibility for school transport, procuring school transport and developing networks for school transport, a single national organiser with a regional dimension to operate the scheme is required. The report further concluded that in the medium term the single national organiser should continue to be Bus Éireann. Bus Éireann is well placed to offer the possibility of integrating local transport services with the rural transport network to achieve significant economies of scale and the organisation and administration of school transport scheme services offers a successful model to follow and build upon. The Department is co-operating fully in the development of practical initiatives, led by the Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport, to promote co-ordination of State supported transport services such as school transport, rural transport and the Health Service Executive transport services. Bus Éireann is also involved in this process. The Minister’s priority is not only to ensure optimum efficiency and effectiveness between all programmes which receive State support, including school transport which, with a budget of €180 million is a significant area of expenditure, but also to establish how this work can assist in meeting the €17 million savings target in respect of the school transport budget by 2014. The safety of school children, travelling on school transport services is of paramount importance to the Department and Bus Éireann. Not only does the company plan and manage the countrywide network applying a range of safety checks, it places onerous obligations and standards on contractors, drivers and vehicles used on school transport services, including the arrangement of random vehicle checks and maintenance audits conducted by independent experts, and the assessment of all routes and pick up points for suitability. In addition, the company assesses pupil eligibility, collects and accounts for pupil contributions, issues tickets or passes to pupils and provides day-to-day supervision and monitoring of service performance and standards. The company also manages the vetting of all personnel involved in school transport duties in conjunction with the Garda Síochána central vetting unit. Given the practical issues which need to be undertaken, the reality is that it would not be possible or feasible for school managements, nor indeed would they have the expertise required, to assume the role of deciding on eligibility and procuring school transport on top of fulfilling their key roles in ensuring the education of each child. In acknowledging our existing resource constraints, it is more important than ever that we streamline our processes and procedures to the greatest extent possible and help ease the administrative burden on schools. I again thank the Deputy for raising this matter and I will bring it to the attention of the Minister of State, Deputy Cannon.
PARLIAMENTARY QUESTIONS Deputy John O’Mahony (FG): asked the Minister for Education and Skills the number of pupils with Down’s syndrome in the mainstream school setting that have a diagnosis of DS with a mild intellectual disability; if he will make available the details of the review of the general allocation model of teaching supports; Minister for Education and Skills (Deputy Ruairí Quinn): As the Deputy is aware, pupils with a mild general learning disability, and who do not attend either a special class or special school, receive additional teaching support at primary level through the teaching staff already in place in all primary schools. All primary schools have been allocated learning support/resource teaching support through the General Allocation Model specifically to support pupils with a high incidence special educational need, including pupils with Down Syndrome with a mild general learning disability. My Department does not have compiled detailed information on the individual children who receive support through the general allocation system. This model of teacher allocation is not in place at post-primary level and therefore the National Council for Special Education (NCSE) allocates additional teaching supports to post-primary schools in respect of students with a mild general learning disability. NCSE has advised my Department that additional teaching supports were in place in post-primary schools in the 09/10 school year in respect of over 3,600 students who had been assessed as having a mild general learning disability. There is no further breakdown of information available in relation to the number of pupils with Down Syndrome with assessed mild general learning disability. A review of the General Allocation Model has been undertaken and completed by my Department and a decision on its publication will be made shortly. The recommendations of the review will be considered in the context of my Departments Employment Control Framework obligations and competing demands on teacher numbers and educational resources.
Deputy Maureen O’Sullivan (I): asked the Minister for Education and Skills the number of special needs assistants employed in fee-paying schools in the Dublin area. Minister for Education and Skills (Deputy Ruairí Quinn): The information requested by the Deputy on the number of special needs assistants employed in fee-paying schools in the Dublin area is not readily available. The number of Special Needs Assistants employed nationally from 2007 to 2010 is available in the document set out below. The details for each year are the December figures for the year in question. The primary schools information is inclusive of the special schools details. SNAs are recruited specifically to assist in the care of pupils with disabilities in an educational context. The class teacher is responsible for educating all pupils in their class, including any pupil with a special educational need. In this task, the teacher may be supported by a learning support teacher and/or resource teacher. As a result, the allocation of SNAs in each school can alter from year to year. Some schools may receive an increased allocation, while others may experience a reduction because the allocation of supports are provided in line with the needs of individual schools. The Deputy will be aware that the National Council for Special Education (NCSE) is responsible, through its network of local Special Educational Needs Organisers (SENOs), for allocating special needs resources to schools to support children with special educational needs. The NCSE operates within my Department’s criteria in allocating such support. The NCSE will continue to support schools, parents, children and teachers and special needs assistants will continue to be deployed to schools to meet children’s needs in line with my Department’s policy. Number of Special Needs Assistants
Deputy Maureen O’Sullivan (I): asked the Minister for Education and Skills the number of requests for special needs assistants that have been made for the coming school year in Dublin Central; the number that have been approved; and the number that are pending. Minister for Education and Skills (Deputy Ruairí Quinn): The detailed information requested by the Deputy on Special Needs Assistants (SNAs) in Dublin Central for the coming school year is not readily available. I wish to clarify for the Deputy that SNAs are recruited specifically to assist in the care of pupils with disabilities in an educational context. SNA allocations are not permanent as the level of SNA support allocated to a school may be increased or decreased as pupils who qualify for SNA support enrol or leave a school or where a child’s care needs may have diminished over time. The allocation of SNAs in each school can therefore alter from year to year. The Deputy will be aware that the National Council for Special Education (NCSE) is responsible for allocating SNAs to schools. 10,575 whole time equivalent posts are being provided for the coming school year. To manage this limited resource, 475 of these posts will be retained for allocation over the coming school year to address significant emergency cases; new entrants with special needs; or new assessments or injuries acquired during the school year. The NCSE will advise schools early in the new school year of a review process to review allocation decisions to ensure that correct procedures were followed and that they comply with my Department’s policy. The merits of individual allocation decisions will not be open to appeal under this mechanism. It will be expected that schools, before requesting a review, will be in a position to demonstrate that they have made every effort to manage their allocation of SNA posts to best effect.
Deputy Niall Collins (FF): asked the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government the moneys allocated by his Department to Meath County Council in 2009, 2010 and 2011 under the housing aid for older people scheme, the housing aid for people with a disability scheme and the mobility aid scheme; and if the moneys allocated were to be used to fund grants in the year of the allocations or if the allocations could be used for past liabilities of Meath County Council incurred in previous years. Minister of State at the Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government (Deputy Willie Penrose): The suite of Grant Schemes for Older People and People with a disability are funded by 80% recoupment available from my Department together with a 20% contribution from the resources of the local authority. It is a matter for each local authority to decide on the specific level of funding to be directed to each of the various grant measures, and to manage the operation of the schemes in their areas from within their allocation. In order to provide for continuity in the processing of applications and the payment of grants under the various grant measures, local authorities are advised by my Department that they may commit up to 50% of current year allocation in respect of grant payments falling due in the following year. Allocations to local authorities in any given year are intended to meet expenditure arising in respect of grants approved in previous years as well expenditure relating to applications on hand and any new applications received in the course of the year. All grant payments made are in respect of valid claims for works completed. Details of Exchequer funding provided to Meath County Council for the grant schemes for the years 2009, 2010 and for 2011 are set out in the following table:
Deputy Eoghan Murphy (FG): asked the Minister for Health the support services that are available for parents who act as full-time carers for children with disabilities. Minister of State at the Department of Health (Deputy Kathleen Lynch): As the Deputy’s question relates to service matters, I have arranged for this question to be referred to the Health Service Executive for direct reply.
Deputy Jerry Buttimer (F): asked the Minister for Education and Skills when schools will receive allocations of special needs assistant hours and their provision. Minister for Education and Skills (Deputy Ruairí Quinn): I wish to advise the Deputy that the National Council for Special Education (NCSE) is responsible, through its network of local Special Educational Needs Organisers (SENOs) for allocating resource teachers and Special Needs Assistants (SNAs) to schools to support children with special educational needs. The NCSE operates within my Department’s criteria in allocating such support. This now includes a requirement for the NCSE to have regard to an overall cap on the number of SNA posts. The NCSE has issued a circular to all schools advising of the allocation process for the 2011-2012 school year. A key feature of the amended scheme will be to provide for an annual allocation of Special Needs Assistant support to eligible schools. The NCSE is currently in the process of informing schools of their annual SNA allocation for the coming school year.
Deputy Dara Calleary (FF): asked the Minister for Education and Skills if he will consider extending panel rights to special needs assistants. Minister for Education and Skills (Deputy Ruairí Quinn): Firstly, I wish to advise the Deputy that Special Needs Assistant (SNA) allocations are not permanent, as the level of SNA support allocated to a school may be increased or decreased as pupils who qualify for SNA support enrol or leave a school. They are also decreased where a child’s care needs may have diminished over time. There are no plans to introduce panel rights for SNAs. The recruitment and deployment of SNAs within schools are matters for the individual Principal-Board of Management. The Board is the SNA’s employer and the terms of employment are subject to the conditions of the contract of employment. The Deputy will be aware that the National Council for Special Education (NCSE) is responsible, through its network of local Special Educational Needs Organisers (SENOs) for allocating resource teachers and SNAs to schools to support children with special educational needs. The NCSE operates within my Department’s criteria in allocating such support, which now includes a requirement for the NCSE to have regard to an overall cap on the number of SNA posts. The NCSE has issued a circular to all schools advising of the allocation process for SNA support for the 2011-2012 school year. A key feature of the amended scheme will be to provide for an annual allocation of SNA support to eligible schools. The NCSE is currently in the process of informing schools of their annual SNA allocation for the coming school year.
Deputy Michael Healy-Rae (I): asked the Minister for Education and Skills if he will examine if funding being provided for school transport is being used on ordinary bus runs; and if this is so, whether it should be permitted. Minister of State at the Department of Education and Skills (Deputy Ciarán Cannon): The school transport scheme, which is operated by Bus Éireann on my Department’s behalf, facilitates the transportation of over 123,000 children to primary and post-primary schools each day including approximately 8,000 children with special educational needs. School transport is a very significant national operation involving about 42 million journeys and over 82 million kilometres on 6,000 routes every school year. This service is delivered using a mix of Bus Éireann, both school transport and road passenger vehicles, private contractor vehicles including private operator scheduled services, and Dublin Bus, Irish Rail, DART and LUAS where practical. Bus Éireann maintains separate accounts for activities provided in connection with the School Transport Schemes. Funding received from the Department is used solely for the purposes of providing transport for schoolchildren in accordance with the terms of these schemes.
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