Maria McCormack (Sinn Fein)

I second the motion and call for a clear commitment. I thank the Minister of State for attending.

I rise not just as a Senator but as a mother and someone who listens carefully to families across this country, especially in my county of Laois, who are in crisis. There is a severe lack of special school and autism spectrum disorder, ASD, school placements in this State. This is not just a failure of planning. It is a failure for children, families and basic rights.

I want to acknowledge a family sitting in the Public Gallery. Sarah and Darren Hennessy are here because they have nowhere else to turn. Their little boy, Freddie, is five years old. Freddie has autism and global developmental delay. For the past two years, he has thrived in an ASD preschool setting. He is ready for school. He wants to learn but there is nowhere for him to go. Sarah and Darren have applied to between 15 and 20 schools. They have received between 15 and 20 refusal letters, which they brought here to show the Minister of State. They would love to speak to the Minister of State after this debate, if possible, because they still have hope that someone will listen.

It was recently announced with great fanfare that five schools in County Laois had been sanctioned new ASD classes, including Killeshin primary school, where Darren attended as a child. The Hennessy family were overjoyed. It felt like their nightmare was finally ending but when I picked up the phone and spoke to the principal of that school I was told the truth. While the principal is willing to do everything in her power to make it happen, the reality is grim. She was only notified days beforehand. She has already been inundated with calls from families but there is no clear plan. They are having planning meetings yet they do not have funding secured and do not have an architect. They have been told they will get a modular build but they do not know where the modular build will come from. Plus, every principal from the five schools told me the same thing, that it is highly unlikely these places will actually be open by September. So while this provision may look good on paper we, in fact, have another case of misleading families, another case of false hope and another round of devastation for people who have already been let down far too many times.

This brings me to discussing St. Francis School in Portlaoise, which is a designated special school. When the school re-opened in 2021 after a full rebuild, it was already overcrowded on day one. The principal was forced to accommodate 19 classes in a 12-classroom building, which shows poor planning. In 2021, the school was promised a modular build to ease the pressure but the school is still waiting. If a special school like St. Francis, which is clearly bursting at the seams, cannot get a promised modular unit in four years then how are we expected to believe that five other schools in County Laois will have new ASD classes, with full modular builds, in a matter of months?

Let me mention another real story. Rebecca is a mother whose son, Alex, is on the waiting list for St. Francis School. That waiting list is 45 children long. She recently spoke to her SENO, Mairead Penny, who was told to wait and be prepared to home school, or just send Alex to a mainstream school. I assume that the Minister of State will know that if a child qualifies for a special school then that means mainstream education is not suitable. So, attending mainstream is not a real option and would be an act of desperation, which leads me directly to the Government’s proposed amendment to the motion. The idea that there are plans in place and investment and inclusion on the way leads me to ask three questions. Where is the road map? Where is the proper timeline? Finally, where is the accountability?

Yesterday, Sarah told me that Freddie had been failed by this system since he was two years old. Freddie has never received early intervention. He has been on a waiting list since he was a toddler. His parents have had to pay privately for speech and language therapy and occupational therapy. Now they have been told they might have to educate Alex at home because there is no school place for him. These parents are being pushed to the brink. They are being forced to act as therapists, carers, case workers and now, possibly, teachers.

We must face one more uncomfortable truth. Modular builds are not suitable school places. Yes, they can be a stopgap but modular builds are becoming the default solution for children with additional needs. There are prefabs in car parks and boxes in schoolyards. It is not right. It is not inclusive. It is another form of discrimination and segregation. Every child has the right to a suitable school place, not a shed out the back while their peers learn inside a proper classroom.