Ivana Bacik: Government Failing Ireland's Children

Thank you Cathaoirleach. Yesterday you described Ireland's economic outlook as positive, but in a wealthy country, one in five children live below the breadline. Nearly five and a half thousand are now homeless. We are once again approaching a new school year with a shortage of special education places, while tonight's RTE Investigates programme, Inside the Care System, highlights the shocking state failings in respect of children in care. The Children's Rights Alliance has described the haunting gaps in our country's response to children in need of care. We know the state only takes a child away from their parents and into care as a last resort, and in the most extreme circumstances, generally where a child is subject to serious risk. I used to act as guardian ad litem on behalf of vulnerable children in care proceedings, some of the most distressing situations imaginable. Demand for care places has increased, yes, but a lack of capacity has always been an issue in the system, and we have been approaching a breaking point for years now. TUSLA now routinely asks the courts to approve placing a child in care, while at the same time asking the judge not to grant a mandatory order requiring compliance with its legal obligations. This is extraordinary Taoiseach. Having decided that a child's situation is so dire as to require the state to act as their parent, TUSLA, it seems, cannot recruit or retain enough staff to provide that state care, a starker failure you could scarcely conceive of Taoiseach. Another vulnerable group are children with additional needs. Again, the Government have known of the exponential growth in the number of children requiring a special education place for this coming academic year. We in the Labour Party certainly welcome the news that 430 places have been made available, and we acknowledge that, but the shortfall was 600, and Taoiseach, that's without accounting for all those parents who've had to accept a place in a mainstream or a special school, knowing that it's inappropriate for their child's particular needs. In February, we saw the public outcry following the debacle over threatened cuts to SNA allocation, and we know our SNAs and our teachers do extraordinary work under sustained pressure, but they're being asked to deliver inclusion in practice without the key resources they need in schools, and Taoiseach, that's not fair or sustainable. Inclusion is officially the national policy of the state, but without adequate resourcing, it's meaningless, and every week we all hear from principals, teachers, and exhausted parents who are fighting for the appropriate supports for their child. Taoiseach, these problems are not going away. During the general election, Labour launched our children's charter, a roadmap for strengthening the rights of children in Ireland, but in government you've been failing children, and despite budget surpluses, we see you failing children in care, children in poverty or homelessness, and children with additional needs. So Taoiseach, will you adopt a planned response to guarantee the rights of every child in Ireland, rights to a home, rights to a proper school place? First of all, I thank the Deputy for raising what is an extremely important issue. We have a child poverty unit within my department, which actually had significant impact on the last budget, but everybody attacked it because it just targeted those most in need, and I hope you would agree with me that what we did in the child support payment is the right direction to deal with poverty amongst children. It is. Others want universality everywhere, but we do need to target and make choices if we do want to reduce consistent poverty among children. I'm determined to do it, and with Minister Darroch Leary's last budget, we took significant steps in that direction. In terms of the RTE documentary on special care and the care of young children, children coming into care, it is extremely disturbing the experiences that are described in the RTE documentary, and the government takes that with the utmost seriousness. There's been huge investment, structural reform, and a very determined effort to eliminate inappropriate placements. But demand for services is increasing at a very rapid rate. Demand for Toosla services has no more than doubled since its establishment in 2014. In 2025 alone, 106,000 referrals were received. 106,000 referrals to Toosla. That's a 10% increase on previous years. There are clearly complex societal pressures, including domestic violence, homelessness, and addiction. But close to 6,000, about 5,900 children are in foster or residential care. Close to 3,000 young people are in aftercare. We will continue to invest, increase investment, and try and enhance. Recruitment is not necessarily a funding issue alone. It's getting the right quality people through, and we have more work to do in that area in terms of the full therapeutic supports for children in care. In terms of special education, the bottom line is we brought forward the portal and the early date for applications for special classes and so forth. That has resulted in a huge increase compared to last year, a dramatic increase, adding up to 6,000 pupils. We will be providing for children for next September. We're now looking at over 26,000 special needs assistants. So when you said they won't be getting support, they will be getting support. The teacher ratio, the new inclusive special class approach will ensure one teacher, two SNAs for every six pupils. And that will result in significant enhancement over and above what had already been provided for in terms of special needs assistants. So those numbers are growing very significantly, and the overall budget for special education is growing significantly. The Cabinet has approved £650 million extra in current funding for education, and a significant amount of that is directed towards accommodating special education. I can go through all the various classes and special schools that have been established. We will meet what's required. Well, Taoiseach, certainly we acknowledge the government is spending money. That's not in doubt. Our issue and the issue that parents and teachers and SNAs and school communities all around the country have, the issue is how you're spending it and the lack of a planned approach. You mentioned the €650 million bailout for the Department of Education as if it was something to be proud of. But the fact that the bailout was necessary yesterday is exactly the problem. It shows the lack of planning. Parents are crying out for school places and supports for children with additional needs. We're seeing a lack of planning, a lack of forward planning. And then this bailout, it's all over the place, Taoiseach. How did you not know that that money would be required? You know the numbers of children who require additional school places. Just as Taoiseach, on the care system, we're seeing money being spent on special care centres that are unregulated, unregistered and under the radar. Private facilities that lack supervision and inspection. And so the money is being spent. It's an extraordinary amount of money, Taoiseach. RTE say it costs €750,000 per child per year for a special care centre. Taoiseach will now respond. Deputy, your time is up. Taoiseach will respond. I would disagree. It was a decision to bring forward the date so that parents would have ample time and schools. And what has transpired is many children who were in mainstream classes, the schools have now applied and have opted in parents for special classes. And at the end of the day, I mean, you're now saying, you're now acknowledging that we're spending money. Some weeks ago, you were saying we were cutting back on SNAs. Sorry, sorry. That's what you said last week. Knowing full well that we weren't. No, sorry. On a rule of thumb, if SNAs are not required in any given school in any given year, they shouldn't be there. If they're not required. There should always be regular checking. No, it's not. You have to do politics. You have to do the opposition. I get that. But fundamentally, the bottom line is you're not opposing the increase in SNAs. I take it. You're not opposing the increase in additional teachers. Thank you, Taoiseach. Time is up. If you don't listen, Taoiseach is entitled to.