MLAs are being recalled from their Easter break to discuss concerns around a decision to cancel summer schemes at special schools which was later reversed
They were scrapped by the Education Authority (EA) last week because of the lack of healthcare provision for children taking part
Concerns were raised from parents who expressed anger at the plans
Less than 24 hours later, the EA performed a U-turn after the Department of Health agreed to provide nursing support for each of the summer schemes
We're now ending our live page on today at Stormont, where MLAs were recalled from their Easter break to discuss concerns around a decision to cancel summer schemes at special schools which was later reversed.
Thank you for joining us. This page was written by Hayley Halpin, Jamie McColgan, Sean Patrick Mulryan and edited by Conor Neeson and Amy Stewart.
Thank you.
Caroline Devenney's son Harry attends Oakwood special school in south Belfast.
She says everything in Harry's life has been a "fight" so far - from obtaining a school place to getting an SEN statement.
While she's pleased the matter has been resolved - she says it shouldn't have happened in the first place.
"The summer for us, I work, I have a mortgage to pay and there’s very little support for children out there for children like Harry, so it’s an extra stress on top of everything else we have to deal with day in and day out with a disabled child," she tells BBC News NI.
Caroline says the idea of the schemes being potentially ended in the future is "devastating".
"Disability doesn’t stop at 18 or 19, it’s for life," she adds.
"We just want something in place until he’s 25 to get him extra support, to get him into adulthood."
For Colleen McConville, it has been a stressful few days.
Her two sons - Cian and Cillian - both attend Lisanally Special School in Armagh and use the school's summer scheme.
She says there was initially shock when she found out the schemes were pulled.
"Services for our children are always cut, so yes we’re grateful it’s back on, but it shouldn’t have been decided like that out of the blue," she says, and says long-term plans are needed.
"You can talk until the cows come home but really it needs to be action and what are they going to do about it, and then properly putting things in place is key."
Also in Stormont are the parents of children with special needs.
BBC News NI spoke to a few before the debate began. Elena Eke, whose autistic son David attends Lisanally Special School in Armagh, said the fallout of the original decision had been very stressful for the family.
"I have three children, and David has autism and complex needs.
"For us, the summer scheme is such a vital service throughout the summer where he can have access through the school to loads of things which we are not able as a family to provide," she adds.
Elena was at Stormont for "answers and clarification" on the long-term future of such schemes.
The Speaker rises and calls the chamber to order after three minutes.
68 members voted on the amendment:
The Ayes have it and the amendment is agreed.
The amendment recognises the "lifeline" that summer schemes provide for many families and the "devastating consequences" their cancellation could have had.
It expresses "frustration at the unnecessary uncertainty and distress caused by the initial decision and the manner in which it unfolded".
The amendment also notes concerns around healthcare for children with special needs and a lack of nursing services in special schools.
Further it calls for an explanation as to how the situation arose and calls for this never to be repeated.
Edwin Poots adjourns the Assembly
Image source, NI AssemblyThe speaker Edwin Poots rises now to speak, noting the "exemplary" behaviour of the children and young people who are also seated in the gallery.
"Well done to all the young people who have sat through all or some of the debate."
He also welcomes DUP party MLA Deborah Erskine back from her maternity leave.
Michelle Guy, from The Alliance Party says she worried when she realised she would be speaking on the motion that she couldn't do justice to the experiences of families.
"What snapped me out of my worry about this speech was the realisation that it is not that hard to stand up and deliver a speech but what is hard is being the parent of a child with complex needs who depends on respite only to hear it's being taken away," she says.
She says the people of NI simply would not accept what was happening.
"How did we go from a position of schemes being unsafe one day and safe the next," she asks?
She says it's a "relief" not a "celebration".
Image source, NI AssemblySinn Féin MLA Danny Baker says that “we are in this position today not because of the Executive, but because two ministers could not pick up the goddamn phone to each other”.
“No excuses, no deflection, that’s exactly what it is. Families are here watching, families have seen what you have done to them last week, you knew about it, so let’s not pretend that it’s the Executive’s fault or let’s not pretend that it’s the Finance Minister’s fault,” he says.
“We know who it was, you didn’t pick up the phone to each other. You have to take responsibility for that.”
He says the Education Minister and the Health Minister need to “wholeheartedly need to apologise” to families.
Image source, NI AssemblyUlster Unionist Party member Robbie Butler now speaks to the Assembly, calling last week's cancellations a failure in delivering real co-ordinated action.
He says: "It's like doing your knitting on a needle, and watching helplessly as that wool falls off the needle."
Butler adds: "Young people and families are facing a cliff edge, not simply because we lack policy, but because we lack clear joint up delivery and distinct ownership."
He says the failure was not deliberate, but if we can't move past "silo working" it proves our system is "not fit for purpose".
Image source, NI ASSEMBLYLeader of the Opposition, Matthew O'Toole says having to subject special educational needs families to this '"spectacle" is a "profound failure of our politics".
"I am deeply sorry you had to endure the farce last week and the additional stress that it caused," he says, speaking to families.
"This is an Executive failure. This spectacle has been depressing."
O'Toole says this was an "immense failure" from both the Education and Health Minister.
"He (Givan) knew before 26 of March that this decision had to be made and before the Education Authority made the announcement that the summer schemes were going to be discontinued, he knew."
He says there should have been a conversation between the health minister and education minister to sort this out issue months earlier.
"That is a failure of collective government".
Givan says the decision announced by the EA last Thursday was “only taken as a last resort when all efforts to run the scheme safely appeared to have been exhausted”.
“I acknowledge that the EA announcement on 26 March was disruptive and it was difficult for parents and special school pupils,” Givan says.
“I regret the distress it caused and on behalf of all involved I apologise to them,” he says.
“However, I am pleased that we have been able to find a way forward and those schools which have been intending to operate a summer scheme can continue to do so.”
Givan says that following the EA announcement on 26 March, he intervened to “renew efforts to seek additional nursing support”.
He says he engaged directly with the Health Minister on the issue. He says he asked EA to engage further with the Department of Health to “explore every possible option to enable as many schemes as possible to proceed”.
He says the EA confirmed it was prepared to deliver summer schemes this year, provided the Department of Health “could provide the necessary clinical and nursing support”.
“After intense and constructive engagement, the Minister for Health confirmed last Friday that nursing support will be provided at every summer scheme location,” Givan says.
He adds that he wants to welcome Health Minister Mike Nesbitt’s intervention on this matter, but says it shouldn't have taken this, after “after months of engagement with health officials”.
Givan says that following the confirmation from Nesbitt, the EA’s transformation officer updated special schools on 27 March on the joint working between education and health and “highlighted that appropriate nursing provision will be in place to support pupils who require healthcare support during special school summer schemes in 2026”.
He says that while the EA will continue to “provide as close as possible to the deliver offered last year, considerable work is now required across multiple partners including schools, EA, the Department of Health and Trusts”.
Paul Givan rises, welcoming the opportunity to respond and to “set the record straight” but says it's unfortunate that some members have "exploited" the issue.
The Education Minister says it is "shameless" how Sinn Féin have "used issues surrounding children with SEN for narrow party political advantage".
Image source, NI AssemblyHe calls their approach to the debate today "tone deaf", and asks they apologise for seeking to "exploit" the issue.
“I will give way to other members outside Sinn Féin but not after the way they disgracefully behaved in this debate,” he adds.
Givan commends the work done by staff in SEN schools both during term time, and outside it.
He says that supporting these children is a priority, but it requires the input of the whole executive, and "all departments must be willing to do so" and bring their resources to the table.
He says there's a tendency to see it as a education issue alone – and a reluctance to commit "more than warm words" and the summer scheme is an example of this.
However he says the EA needs the support and investment of others to provide this safely.
He adds that the cancellations were a result of health risks, and not funding.
Givan says that parents need to know that their children are safe, but he only wishes that nursing cover was received earlier, so that they could have avoided the distress caused by the cancellations.
Image source, NI AssemblyPeople Before Profit MLA Gerry Carroll says “parents were left devastated” over the announcement of the cancellation of the summer schemes.
He says the most “cruel part of this shameful episode is it didn’t have to happen at all”.
“The question every parent is now entitled to ask, and we need answers to, if the resources were there all along, why were families put through that torment? I hope the ministers can answer,” Carroll says.
He adds that the answer is the families were “simply not a priority until parents and the public made it impossible to ignore”.
The TUV's Timothy Gaston criticises the "shameless handwringing" in the chamber.
He says that cancelling the SEN summer schemes was not simply an administrative misstep but a "failure of the most vulnerable children in our society".
"Summer schemes for children with special educational needs are not an optional extra. They are for many families, a lifeline.
"Not something families should have to go on the airwaves and plead for. Not something they should have to embarrass MLAS back into this chamber to discuss," he tells MLAs.
He finishes by urging the responsible ministers to "set out clearly how this situation arose, what options were considered and why it took the public pressure to secure a reversal".
Image source, NI AssemblyAlliance Party MLA Nuala McAllister says “parents have been speaking about why they are at crisis point, that today isn’t just about summer scheme provision, it’s about the why we are here”.
“It’s because parents are at breaking point, they are in crisis. Parents are having to relinquish the care of their child to the state because they simply cannot go on,” she tells the Assembly.
McAllister says it was a “distressing” announcement to make at the start of the Easter break that the schemes were to be cancelled, “not just for government but also for families who are having to cope over the next two weeks”.
“I hope the strength of the public reaction has shown both the Minister for Health and the Minister for Education just how important these services are.”
Image source, NI AssemblyMember Cheryl Brownlee from the Democratic Unionist Party highlights the importance of these summer schemes for SEN kids.
"It's just the tip of the iceberg, it is another devestating blow for children with special needs," she says.
"These parents are not just struggling, they are surviving.
"For some families, there is nothing left but the support provided from the education system."
Brownlee adds that it is "extremely concerning and disappointing" that they are gathered in the Assembly today, but is relieved to see the U-turn in cancellations.
She said this change "highlighted the strength of public feeling, and society's willingness to stand up for the most vulnerable".
Brownlee ends by saying that families don't care for headlines or who is credited, they only care that their child is safe and supported.
Image source, NI AssemblyAlliance MLA Nick Mathison tells the Assembly it is important to highlight the concerns about the adequacy and safety of nursing provision in special schools has been “well documented for years”.
“By extension, if there are concerns about the safety provision in our special schools during term times then it is equally clear that summer schemes taking place outside of normal operating arrangements, that those concerns and safety issues will be heightened,” Mathison says.
He says that the EA has been “desperately trying to get engagement with the Health Department on these issues, that that engagement was not forthcoming”, adding that both the Education and Health Ministers “appeared to be taking a back seat”.
He wants to know if the minister has been assured that the summer schemes that have been dominating the agenda today will now be delivered safely in 2026.
Image source, NI ASSEMBLYDUP MLA Diane Forsythe begins by declaring an interest that her mum is currently employed as a classroom assistant.
She echoes the sentiment that this past week has been an "incredibly stressful time" for families and school staff.
She adds that the response to this risk facing summer schemes should not be used as yet another opportunity for "petty and cheap point scoring".
She says, "we have to take on board the huge impact that losing these summer schemes would have meant for parents and children and recognise how much worse things will be in the future if it is not just the summer schemes at risks but the entire school system".
"I call on the minister of finance to provide adequate funding to ensure that children with special needs can be properly supported throughout the year," she says.
Image source, NI AssemblySinn Féin MLA Pat Sheehan tells the Assembly that children with SEN “deserve to have a summer scheme”.
“Their families deserve to have some respite from the 24 hours a day caring for their children,” Sheehan says.
He adds that the families and children are paying the price of the “failures” of the education minister.
He says the “most vulnerable citizens have been cast to the side” by a minister who believes “there are more important issues”.
Sheehan says he is “sick, sore and tired” of asking the education minister and his officials about the level of cooperation and collaboration between his department and the Department of Health, “particularly in relation to children with special educational needs”.
“Unfortunately, it’s clear from the answers I’m getting that there is no collaboration at all.”
