Pearse Doherty: July Scheme Failure Leaves Children Locked Out

Deputy Doherty. Go raibh maith agat a dhéal, Iascaighn Comhairle. Tánaiste, chur an an sceam oruil uil táceardaid agus ríocháirte, saoirí ar phaile da phaisea bhfuil ríochtas na brisea achu. Agus níol na táceaine seo ráine le thé rince phaisea, taisead ríochtaine. Agus go fóill ar phaile an stét, tá ar ag insan da teallí go an na táceaine seo a thallu achu. Am níol na níor asglú an traoisea iarachtas na sceam oruil uil, ach ar faith seachtain na bhfain. Sin seachtain na bhfain, tánaiste, sa na bhfienta ribhais seo, bhí seo mhí míon ag na sgáil tátha leis an phróseach a thora grí. Agus bai paistí an na bhfuil ríochtas na brisea achu, phuic ar léthu an isch gan na táceaireachtaid a dhéas ríocháirte seo, dón saoirú. As iad na paistí a théan a ta gofhidhís le seo. Tánaiste, the July Provision Scheme provides vital summer educational supports for children with additional needs. And for many children, these supports are not optional. They are absolutely essential. They provide structure, they provide routine, stability, continuity during the summer months. And yet, right across the state, families are now being told that their children are going to be denied, they're going to lose out on these vital supports. This is because of a deeply unfair and badly handled decision by the Department of Education. Tánaiste, I've been contacted by principals, I've been contacted by parents, I've been contacted by teachers. People, parents are deeply, deeply distressed. And they're all telling me the same thing. They're angry, they're upset, and they're desperate to be heard. Parents are telling me that they're lying awake at night worrying about now what happens to their child. How and under God can a government who proclaims and constantly speaks about inclusion and supporting children with additional needs allow this to happen, Tánaiste? Schools and families have been pleading with the Department to intervene, but their appeals are falling on deaf ears over and over again. And this year, the application window for the July provision was open just for one week, just one week. And previous years, schools had months to complete this process. Many schools simply didn't have sufficient time to process applications, to gather the paperwork, to complete the registrations before the portal was closed. And the consequences of all of that, what's the real life consequences? It's that children with additional needs are now locked out of vital education supports this summer. It's absolutely appalling. And it is not an isolated problem, Tánaiste. It's happening to families right across the state. Parents are facing enormous battles accessing services for their children. They're already having to struggle, as we know, to secure assessments, to secure therapies, to secure tutors, to secure SNAs. And many feel that they're constantly being pushed from one waiting list to another, from one bureaucratic process to another. And meanwhile, supports remain under-resourced and out of reach for so many of them. And now this, on top of all of that, more stress, more worry, more upset. Tánaiste, these are children with additional needs. We had to think about that for a minute. They are children with additional needs. And their families are already carrying huge emotional and financial burden. They are parents who spend every day fighting for supports, fighting for services, fighting simply to ensure that their child is treated with dignity. And now you're effectively telling them that their child will lose out supports that they so desperately need and that they've relied on year after year because of what? An unreasonable tight deadline, because of bureaucracy, because of red tape. Families don't understand it. Teachers don't understand it. I, for the life of God, do not understand it. Because this is mean-spirited. It is penny-pinching. And it is penny-pinching at the expense of vulnerable children. And it is not on. Tánaiste, we've been raising this again and again. Teachers have been raising this. Parents have been pleading with you to do so. Yesterday, my party leader, Mary-Lou MacDonald, raised it with Ataisha. He ignored her question. My question to you is are you going to listen? Are you going to do the right thing? Will you acknowledge the hurt, the anxiety and the anger at the decision that you have taken? And will you listen to the pleas of the parents, the teachers and the principals? So I'm asking you directly, immediately, immediately, reopen and extend the application portal so that no child with additional needs will be denied supports this summer. We need certainty and certainty right now. Yes, we will. I want to thank Deputy Doherty for raising this important issue. I want to thank deputies across the House, including on the government benches, for raising this issue also. We will reopen the portal. The deputy is right. On occasions, we can agree in this House. This is a vital programme that plays a really important part in the lives of children with additional needs, be they special educational needs or be they children from areas of economic disadvantage. The Summer Programme, as we now call it, is a vital support for families. It's specifically designed to support children with complex educational needs or those at risk of educational disadvantage. We're very much committed to continuing to expand and grow the programme. In fact, the facts would show that that's exactly what has happened. I'll get to that in a moment. The Minister for Education has very much listened directly to the concerns of schools, of principals, of teachers and of parents. I'm pleased last week in Cora to confirm that the portal will be reopened to allow further schools to apply. The Minister will announce details of the extension shortly because everyone in this House knows that the Summer Programme is an absolutely crucial support for families over the holiday period. It's huge benefits for children in terms of their social well-being and their emotional well-being. We're absolutely committed, as I believe everybody across this House is, to growing and supporting that Summer Programme. You do only have to look at the numbers to show the growth in the programme. In 2020, 545 schools and nearly 23,000 children took part in the programme. Just five years later, last year, more than 1,800 schools and almost 71,000 children participated. That's a 210% increase. This is a scheme that's rightly growing year on year. The intention and the continued emphasis of that programme is to mitigate the impact of learning loss on those children while the school is closed. All schools can participate in the programme, with a particular focus on increasing participation in special schools. As the Deputy correctly says, the online portal for the Summer Programme, including the home-based Summer Programme, which is another element of it, was open from 6 May to 15 May. I'm told that all stakeholders were made aware of the timeframe for the portal, but I'm also very aware that it's a particularly busy time for schools, for the school community. A lot going on as you get towards the end of that school year. So, yes, there was reminders sent to schools, all of that, but that's somewhat missing the point. The point is there's a need for a longer period of time for schools to apply and get this up and running. I also understand, for the information of the House, that the Department has received more applications this year across primary, post-primary and special schools compared to last year. In addition, the number of home-based applications has also significantly increased on last year. Notwithstanding that, in fact, perhaps because of that, we want to make sure that the children who need this programme get it, and that's why my colleague, the Minister for Education, will announce that short extension shortly, so that schools who've missed the deadline for very genuine reasons – and I think the Deputy has highlighted some of those reasons, it was a shorter window than previous years – will have the opportunity to reapply. Minister, I welcome the decision that yous are going to now reopen the portal. I would ask that clarity is given to schools and parents immediately. You talk about a short extension. It needs to be long enough to deal with the process, and also now, because of the botched situation in relation to this year, there is now huge pressure in relation to having tutors and allocating that, so this cannot happen again. But I want to raise an additional issue in relation to this year. My understanding is the scheme has also changed in relation to there is only now one option where all the pupils take either the school-based programme or the home-based programme. That puts medically vulnerable children and locks them out of the system. If the school decides for a school-based programme, you cannot have a home-based programme for that medically vulnerable child. I was talking to a parent of a child who is 13 years of age who has missed so much school because of their medical vulnerability. They have care every night from the HSE which proves their medical vulnerability, and because the portal only allows you to do one or the other, they cannot obviously avail of the school-based programme. They need a home-based programme. I am asking you in relation to examining this issue that you will also examine that issue and make sure that medically vulnerable students are not denied the situation, which up until now was always the case that they could avail of either or. I do not want to mislead the House because on the last issue I need to talk to the Minister for Education and ask that she comes back to the Deputy, as I am sure she will, but I take the seriousness of the point that you make. Schools will be contacted today. You are right, they do need that clarity. My understanding is the actual portal will probably open next week, but the schools will be contacted today. The portal will open next week. But look, I do just want to say this is a programme that is growing. It is growing very, very significantly in terms of the numbers of children. We all know in our own constituency, in our own community, the very significant difference that it is making to children as well. If we look back in 2016, 8,767 children benefited from that scheme. Like I said last year, it was over 70,000. That is both a sign of a programme that is working, and I want to thank all of those around the country who provide this programme. It is also a sign of the need, the fact that there are now so many children with those complex additional needs. I share your view that this is not a discretionary extra or nice to have. It is a very vital part of education, provision and family support.