Sinn Féin calls for 'Sláintecare' on future of special education for children with additional needs

Party to bring forward motion to call for urgent and 'fundamental shift' in how the State provides for children with additional educational needs

The motion calls on the Government to establish an all-party Oireachtas committee on the future of inclusive education by June.

Sinn Féin is to table a motion this week calling for a 'Sláintecare' for the future of inclusive education. 

The party intends to bring forward the motion to call for an urgent and "fundamental shift" in how the State provides for children with additional educational needs.

The motion calls on the Government to establish an all-party Oireachtas committee on the future of inclusive education by June, which is "mandated to hear from all education stakeholders in a full public forum, and to report back with legislative and policy recommendations within 12 months".

The motion also calls on the Government to "immediately publish the exact number of children with additional needs still awaiting an appropriate school place for the coming school year".

Sinn Féin education spokesman Darren O’Rourke said: “Every week, my office is contacted by parents who cannot secure an appropriate school place for their child, particularly those with additional needs, and feel like they have to constantly fight the system to secure what should be a fundamental right.

We need a new and fairer approach, one that puts the needs of children at the centre. A time-bound all-party Oireachtas committee would play a very helpful role in informing that.

Sinn Féin special education spokeswoman Shónagh Ní Raghallaigh said the current approach to provision appeared to be "rationing". 

"Whether through the redesignation of mild general learning disability classes or the creation of a new category of 'inclusive special class' with higher pupil numbers but no commensurate increase in supports.  This is dilution, not inclusion." 

Last week, the Department of Education announced it was to establish new "inclusive special classes" at five post-primary schools for the upcoming school year, which it described as "a new approach" to supporting students with additional needs. 

The model was welcomed by the post-primary management bodies. 

However, advocates Inclusion Ireland and AsIAm have both expressed concerns at the rollout of the new model, and have sought further information from education minister Hildegarde Naughton.