Gino Kenny: Over 120 Children Without School Places, Calls Failure
Gino Kenny spoke in the Dáil about a continuing shortage of school places and failures in disability services, saying over 120 children will have no school place in September and calling the situation a state failure. He argued the shortage is driven by poor planning and service vacancies and urged proper planning and choice to resolve the problem.
School places shortage
He highlighted that more than 120 children in the state will have no school place in September, calling it elementary that a state cannot provide a child with a school place and describing the situation as a failure that has persisted through eight and a half years of debate.
Impact on families and therapies
He warned of knock-on effects for children and families, including inappropriate or impractical homeschooling, delayed assessments of needs and therapies, and the financial burden on families forced to seek expensive private alternatives when public services are unavailable.
Problems in disability services
He criticised the implementation of the Disability Act 2005, saying assessments of need are not working and families are compelled to take the state to the High Court over breaches. He also pointed to huge vacancies in Children's Disability Network teams, which he said can reach 40% to 50% and lead to years-long waits.
Calls for planning and accountability
He argued that the issue is not merely about money but about bad planning and choice, saying the state is "awash with money" yet failing children. He urged the minister and the government to show the political will to deliver places and services so families do not face the same uncertainty each September.
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So we've had this debate continuously over, I say, since my time in here, and I've been here eight and a half years, and unfortunately we will continue to have that debate until this issue is resolved. And it's not resolved by any means. I mean, the brutal truth is that over 120 children in the state have no place to go to a school place in September. Now that seems very elementary, that a state cannot provide a child with a school place. And I don't make this personal, you know, but the state, when we're awash with money, somebody has to ask a question. If it's not about money, then surely it's about bad planning. Somebody's got the blame when a child cannot find a place for a school. Because these are simple, simple things. And this is having a knock-on effect to that child and to the family. If they haven't got a place, homeschooling is sometimes not appropriate, and so forth. So it's a failure, and I use that kind of, you know, I use that word, you know, sensibly, but the state has failed children when they can't provide them with a school place. And, you know, this has a knock-on effect, not only, as I said, to them children, but in terms of assessment of needs, in terms of therapies that goes with the assessment of needs. I mean, you have a bizarre situation where families have to take the state to court in terms of the state breach in the Disability Act of 2005. You know, I mean, laws are made in here, so they're legislated for, and they're enacted so, you know, that they work. The Disability Act, in terms of the assessment needs, simply doesn't work. If families are going via the High Court to bring the state for these therapies and these assessments, then there's obviously something dramatically wrong. I just want to kind of touch on in relation to what, like, what answers and what solutions are we saying, you know? I think a number of solutions in terms of the vacancies in the kind of Children's Disability Network teams. There's huge vacancies at the moment, and once there's vacancies up to 40%, 50% in cases, then there's going to be, again, that knock-on effect, where people have to wait years in some cases, or if you have the money, you will go private. And these are expensive therapies. So the knock-on effect from the top affects the children, the most vulnerable children in our society, and that's just not good enough. Where this country is awash with money, we actually don't know what to do with the money, but what we can do with the money and the kind of, I suppose, the forbearance and planning is to not allow this to happen. This doesn't mean, this doesn't have to happen. Children should have a place to go to school. Families should have not to worry at every, come September, to not have a place for their child, you know? So, with that, Minister, you know, with, as I said, with proper planning and choice, because there is comes to choice, this can be solved, you know? But, you know, I don't know if the government have the stomach to solve that, but on paper, when children do not have places to go to, and there's a knock-on effect, then obviously somebody, somewhere, doesn't actually have the kind of stomach to actually solve this. Thank you, Paris. Thanks.
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