Dáil Éireann - Private Members Business (Technical Group) 12-13 July 2011
“That Dáil Éireann:acknowledges that:
— every child has the right to equal opportunity through education as enshrined in
Article 28.1 of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child;
— the State has promised to ‘assist children with Special Educational Needs to leave
school with the skills necessary to participate…in an inclusive way in the social and
economic activities of society and to live independent and fulfilled lives’ through the
Education for Persons with Special Educational Needs (EPSEN) Act 2004;
— the State has failed to fulfil a number of its obligations under the EPSEN Act 2004 as
key sections remain unimplemented;
— Special Needs Assistants (SNAs) must be allocated on the basis of need, must not be
subject to arbitrary recruitment limits that curtail their ability to support the most
vulnerable members of Irish society and must be recognised for the vital role they
play in the Irish educational system; and
— the recent cap placed on SNA numbers and the 10% cut to resource hours for schools
is a disgraceful, mean-spirited, short-sighted false economy that will be detrimental to
the lives of children with special educational needs, their classmates, their teachers,
their families, the SNAs themselves and to Irish society as a whole;
recognises that:
— SNAs are fundamental in the development of increased long-term independence for
children with special educational needs;
— the role of the SNA has, in practice, evolved from a purely support function to
incorporate an educational remit that must now be acknowledged;
— teachers cannot, in the absence of SNAs, provide the dedicated care that students with
special educational needs require in addition to catering to the needs of the entire
class; and
— there is currently no alternative in the Irish schools system that would eliminate the
need for SNAs to deliver pedagogical support to students with special educational
needs; and
, in recognition that the need for special educational supports is increasing in line with
population growth as highlighted in the Preliminary Census Report released in June 2011, calls
on the Government to:
— develop a centrally-led strategic and expert approach to educational support provision
that takes cognisance of the experiences of users, parents, teachers, SNAs and other
resource providers in addition to top-level educational experts;
— include parents as educational partners, in any correspondence between schools and
the National Council for Special Education (NCSE) with regards to their child and
decisions made in relation to the allocation of supports, to ensure transparency within
the system;
— introduce an Independent Appeals Process which would allow parents to apply
directly to the NCSE for learning supports as per the EPSEN Act 2004;
— amend the EPSEN Act 2004 to establish a framework of rights and needs-based
provision thereby eliminating the need for parents to vindicate the rights of their
children through court action;
— establish a system of accreditation that would allow SNAs to train and qualify as
Learning Support Assistants in recognition of the complex role they play;
— end its plans to introduce financial charges for pupils availing of the School Transport
Scheme and to maintain existing school transport services;
— reverse cuts to learning supports, specifically the 10% cut in resource hours for
schools, the planned withdrawal of resource teachers for travellers, language support
teachers, rural co-ordinator teaching posts for Delivering Equality of Opportunity in
Schools (DEIS) schools and the visiting teacher service for travellers; and
— immediately abandon the cap on the number of National Educational Psychological
Service (NEPS) psychologists and SNAs.” — Catherine Murphy, Maureen
O'Sullivan, Mick Wallace, Joan Collins, Clare Daly, Joe Higgins, Seamus Healy,
Luke ‘Ming’ Flanagan, Mattie McGrath, Tom Fleming, Stephen Donnelly, Thomas
Pringle, Finian McGrath, Shane Ross, Richard Boyd Barrett, John Halligan.
[8 July, 2011]
— every child has the right to equal opportunity through education as enshrined in
Article 28.1 of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child;
— the State has promised to ‘assist children with Special Educational Needs to leave
school with the skills necessary to participate…in an inclusive way in the social and
economic activities of society and to live independent and fulfilled lives’ through the
Education for Persons with Special Educational Needs (EPSEN) Act 2004;
— the State has failed to fulfil a number of its obligations under the EPSEN Act 2004 as
key sections remain unimplemented;
— Special Needs Assistants (SNAs) must be allocated on the basis of need, must not be
subject to arbitrary recruitment limits that curtail their ability to support the most
vulnerable members of Irish society and must be recognised for the vital role they
play in the Irish educational system; and
— the recent cap placed on SNA numbers and the 10% cut to resource hours for schools
is a disgraceful, mean-spirited, short-sighted false economy that will be detrimental to
the lives of children with special educational needs, their classmates, their teachers,
their families, the SNAs themselves and to Irish society as a whole;
recognises that:
— SNAs are fundamental in the development of increased long-term independence for
children with special educational needs;
— the role of the SNA has, in practice, evolved from a purely support function to
incorporate an educational remit that must now be acknowledged;
— teachers cannot, in the absence of SNAs, provide the dedicated care that students with
special educational needs require in addition to catering to the needs of the entire
class; and
— there is currently no alternative in the Irish schools system that would eliminate the
need for SNAs to deliver pedagogical support to students with special educational
needs; and
, in recognition that the need for special educational supports is increasing in line with
population growth as highlighted in the Preliminary Census Report released in June 2011, calls
on the Government to:
— develop a centrally-led strategic and expert approach to educational support provision
that takes cognisance of the experiences of users, parents, teachers, SNAs and other
resource providers in addition to top-level educational experts;
— include parents as educational partners, in any correspondence between schools and
the National Council for Special Education (NCSE) with regards to their child and
decisions made in relation to the allocation of supports, to ensure transparency within
the system;
— introduce an Independent Appeals Process which would allow parents to apply
directly to the NCSE for learning supports as per the EPSEN Act 2004;
— amend the EPSEN Act 2004 to establish a framework of rights and needs-based
provision thereby eliminating the need for parents to vindicate the rights of their
children through court action;
— establish a system of accreditation that would allow SNAs to train and qualify as
Learning Support Assistants in recognition of the complex role they play;
— end its plans to introduce financial charges for pupils availing of the School Transport
Scheme and to maintain existing school transport services;
— reverse cuts to learning supports, specifically the 10% cut in resource hours for
schools, the planned withdrawal of resource teachers for travellers, language support
teachers, rural co-ordinator teaching posts for Delivering Equality of Opportunity in
Schools (DEIS) schools and the visiting teacher service for travellers; and
— immediately abandon the cap on the number of National Educational Psychological
Service (NEPS) psychologists and SNAs.” — Catherine Murphy, Maureen
O'Sullivan, Mick Wallace, Joan Collins, Clare Daly, Joe Higgins, Seamus Healy,
Luke ‘Ming’ Flanagan, Mattie McGrath, Tom Fleming, Stephen Donnelly, Thomas
Pringle, Finian McGrath, Shane Ross, Richard Boyd Barrett, John Halligan.
[8 July, 2011]
