Special Education: Motion [Private Members]
Dail Éireann — 2026-04-21
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Darren O'Rourke (SF), Meath East

I thank those who contributed to the debate. The Government is not opposing the motion but this is only welcome if it actually acts on the proposals contained in it. The reason we brought forward this motion is because of a failure to predict and respond to the demand for special education. There are ample examples of Government failure. This year, it was a case of establish a portal, close a portal and lock people out of the system. There was a supplementary budget, a supplementary to the supplementary budget and delays. Delays mean access denied.
We have a significant number of contributions of evidence and opinion, including the EPSEN review, the report of the Oireachtas Committee on Disability Matters, any amount of hearings of the Oireachtas education committee and the Department's own roadmap for inclusion. Fórsa and the teachers' unions know exactly what needs to be done. Across the board, and it is certainly my experience, we have a Department and Government that do not listen. If ever we needed an example of that, all we have to do is look at the Taoiseach. The last time we were here with a Sinn Féin motion talking about the SNA debacle of the Government's own making, the Taoiseach said we have to be careful if we look for extra SNAs. Today, he said that the Save our SNAs campaign was a flawed campaign. That is to completely deny the fact that communities across the country - families, parents, SNAs and school communities - know exactly what needs to be done. It is now time for the Government, the Department, the Minister and the Minister of State to listen.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2026-04-21/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-09-21T01:01:08+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-04-21