Danny Healy-Rae: Parents are worn out from fighting for a school places
Danny Healy-Rae speaks in tonight's motion to urge protection for special needs assistants (SNAs) and faster assessments for children with complex needs. He thanks Sinn Féin for bringing the motion and criticises delays and gaps in the Department's provision that force parents to fight for their children's education.
Summary: Danny Healy-Rae opened by thanking Sinn Féin for tabling the motion and set out the core concern: children and parents are suffering long waits for assessments and inconsistent SNA provision. He warned that families across the country are forced into repeated battles for support from primary into post-primary school.
Concerns about provision: Healy-Rae pointed to large distances between schools and families and said official counts of SNA cases do not reflect gaps on the ground. Many children with complex needs remain without SNAs in the places they need them, he said, leaving parents worn out from fighting for basic education rights.
Wider implications: Healy-Rae urged Ministers and the education system to recognise the continuity of need from primary to post-primary schools and to ensure allocated SNAs match actual local demand. He framed the issue as a matter of fairness and basic access to education for children with special needs.
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First of all I want to thank Sinn Féin for bringing forward this motion here tonight. I suppose it's the biggest wonder of the world when a baby is born to a loving couple and they look forward to raise it and bring it up and have the best, give that child the very best. Equally it is devastating when they discover that something doesn't matter and that the child needs an assessment or whatever and they have to wait, wait so long and that's very hurtful for them because they have to fight for everything, they have to fight for primary school education and special needs teachers then when they move on to post-primary school they have to do it again. Surely the powers that be and the education system should recognise at that stage that they need SNAs and more of the same in the secondary school. Another problem arises that the Department says it has X number of SNA cases and that the country is covered but in many cases it is not there and big distances between schools and between families and schools creates a huge problem for people. Many children with complex needs are still without SNAs in necessary school places. Parents all over the country are worn out from fighting for a school place for their children. They should not have to fight for the one basic right of education. Ministers, I have to say to you, it was very hurtful when he tried to take four SNA teachers out of Fawcett National School in the county of Kerry. I'm glad that he sees the light because these people are doing tremendous work and they should be allowed to continue and some Department officials went into that school and sat inside another room and then drew up the idea of taking away four. That's wrong and they didn't see what was going on in the school.
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