Far stronger child-protection safeguards are needed in schools on new rules over the use of restraint against pupils, Ireland’s special rapporteur on child protection has said.
The call follows the publication last month by the Department of Education of guidance for dealing with “behaviours of concern” across all schools.
The guidelines state that schools may no longer use seclusion. In addition, physical restraint is no longer permitted except in a “crisis” situation where there is a risk to the student or others. These include situations such as a student self-injuring, throwing large items such as computers or furniture, or physically attacking another person.
Rapporteur Caoilfhionn Gallagher said statistics from autism charity AsIAm and intellectual disability support group Inclusion Ireland indicate that an alarmingly high percentage of disabled children have experienced seclusion or restraint, which can cause multiple harms to children, including physical injury and mental trauma, in Ireland.
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“Guidelines are long overdue, but after a six-year wait the new guidelines fall far short of what is required to protect and support disabled and neurodivergent children,” she said.
“The oversight of these practices is particularly concerning: the reporting mechanism must be urgently reviewed to ensure it complies with Ireland’s international obligations under the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child and the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. This must be an urgent priority for the new government, to reduce the risk of children being harmed.”
She was speaking ahead of Inclusion Ireland and AsIAm launching a campaign on Monday for a child protection-led review of the new guidelines before they come into force in September. The groups say autistic children and children with intellectual disabilities frequently experience restraint in Irish classrooms in a context in which there is “no mandatory training or robust, child-centred safeguards”.
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They say the new guidelines have created a reporting mechanism for schools to the National Council for Special Education. However, they say this agency has “no powers of investigation and, as such, the guidelines conflict with the Children’s First Act and Ireland’s international human rights obligations”.
The guidelines, they argue, do not require schools to mandate training for teachers or secure parental consent before the application of restraint, nor are school-level policies or compliance inspections by the department included in the framework.
Teachers’ unions have not commented on the guidelines, but some principals have argued privately that it is important to strike a balance between safeguarding children and staff who are at risk of injury in crisis situations.
In cases where physical restraint is used, the new guidelines state that it must be “timely, measured and carried out by appropriately trained” staff.
In addition, it must be documented and reported to the National Council for Special Education, which will collate quarterly reports on the extent of the practice being deployed.
While critics say there is no provision to alert Tusla, the child and family agency, education sources say reporting obligations remain under child-protection legislation.
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