Special education and SNA allocations
Senator Moynihan called for a debate on special education, warning that frozen SNA allocations and missing supports are leaving children with autism without appropriate provision.
I call for a debate in the House on special education. My party leader and colleague, Deputy Bacik, has also been calling for such a debate in the Dáil. We see from the published SNA allocations that they have been frozen for the third year in a row. For an awful lot of SNAs, if issues have arisen, there will not be enough time for them to appeal and be in place in September. It is very unfair on these essential workers in the Irish education system who need to have dignity and respect in their work and to be able to plan. There are also 270 children with autism who do not have an appropriate place for September, according to AsIAm. In light of these matters, coupled with things like the proposed special education centres and the delays in assessments of need, there is a need for this House to have a special focus and debate on SNAs, autism supports and autism within education. I call for such a debate when we come back in June.
I welcome the unveiling yesterday of the six Stolpersteine in St. Catherine's National School, Donore Avenue, which is where I went to primary school. Ettie Steinberg, one of six Irish victims of the Holocaust, also went to school there. The area was known as Little Jerusalem. It is very important that the school, the area and Ireland commemorate how Ireland let down an awful lot of victims of the Holocaust by not taking the number of European refugees we should have at that time. There are approximately 2,000 Stolpersteine around Europe. They are installed to commemorate and remember Jewish victims of the Holocaust. They serve as a timely reminder that words matter and that they can be used to spread hate towards a certain group. It is worth remembering that among the first victims of the Holocaust were LGBTI people. That unveiling to commemorate Ettie Steinberg was very welcome. She lived and went to school in Donore Avenue. She was a seamstress and was one of the Irish victims of the Holocaust. I congratulate the school and its principal, Karen Jordan, and the Irish Holocaust memorial group in Dublin City Council on yesterday's unveiling.
