Special needs and DEIS plus
Deputy Donnelly criticised failures in special needs supports, school places and DEIS plus availability in Dublin West, and challenged the Government on why services are not reaching his area. The Tánaiste defended DEIS plus as a new needs-based programme and said the other issues would be followed up.
I am going to give the Tánaiste some examples of how this Government is failing our most vulnerable children. Hansfield Educate Together National School is telling us it will not be able to support children with additional needs due to the lack of SNA allocation for this September, forcing it to reduce timetables for students with additional needs. One school in Dublin West has been awarded DEIS plus status but there is none in Corduff, Blakestown or Mountview. At least 19 children with additional needs have no post-primary school place for September. The Minister's task force on special education, set up in October 2024, has still not published its recommendations. Why? Children have been waiting six years for an assessment of need for children with additional needs in Blakestown CDNT. School completion programmes tackling disadvantage in the Mountview, Blakestown and Ongar areas are operating with no increased funding and have been asked to support a school population that has increased by over 1,000 children. Deaf children get supports, or not, due to a postcode lottery. There is a baby alarm and monitor scheme in Meath-----
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----but not in Dublin West. It is the same HSE. Why? Why is the Government failing our children?
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I thank Deputy Donnelly. I am very proud to be a member of the Government that has introduced the DEIS plus programme. For the first time ever in the history of the State, we now have DEIS plus and I thank the Minister, Deputy Naughton, for her work on that. The Deputy and I have discussed this before. It is a start. The schools have been chosen on the basis of need, with criteria that are above and beyond politics in terms of trying to identify those most in need. That is not to say we do not wish to see DEIS plus expanded or rolled out further. Of course we do.
On the other specific issues, including HSE-related issues, I will ask both the Minister for Health and the Minister for education to come back to the Deputy.
While I am on my feet, I welcome the youth advisory panel who Deputy Keira Keogh, Chair of the Oireachtas Committee on Children and Equality, said are in the Gallery. I know they spoke so very well yesterday on the topic of online safety. I think there are representatives form Webwise, Youthwork Ireland, the NYCI and the Ombudsman for Children's Office. I welcome them to Leinster House and thank them for being here.