I welcome the Minister of State, Deputy Murnane O'Connor. She is most welcome to Seanad Éireann.

I thank the Minister of State for being here. We know that aside from skin cancer, breast cancer is the most common form of cancer in Ireland. Approximately one in seven women will be diagnosed with it. The HSE provides a variety of treatment options for women with breast cancer depending on its stage, grade and severity. Among these options is a mastectomy, which is a procedure that removes the breast after which patients can have breast reconstruction surgery, a procedure that replaces the breast tissue previously removed.

Unfortunately, though, today, quite a number of women who have received mastectomies are experiencing excessive waiting times for reconstruction surgery. We know that women often have a choice to make between receiving breast reconstruction immediately after undergoing a mastectomy or waiting to have a reconstruction done in the future, which is what we call "delayed reconstruction".

Sometimes, a mastectomy is not recommended given a patient's circumstances and health. Quite often, for medical reasons, immediate reconstruction is not possible. For other women, there are myriad different reasons they cannot at that point have it. Indeed, one woman who spoke to me said she was given four days to make her mind up. She was just devastated at the impact of having a mastectomy and could not imagine spending several more hours undergoing that operation. People need to be mentally ready to have that type of surgery.

Many have been waiting for between four and seven years on public waiting lists. I know of some who had mastectomies in 2021 and are still waiting. In the case of one woman who came to me a number of weeks ago, sadly, the surgeon she had in St. Vincent's has passed away. At every subsequent meeting she has had for a check-up and examination, which was every three months initially, then every six months and is now a year, she has had a different surgeon every time. The delayed reconstruction was requested, but she discovered only two weeks ago that that was never acted on within her notes. Even though she has asked for it multiple times, her request was never acted on. It was referred to another hospital two years ago and is now at the bottom of its waiting list.

This situation has a huge impact on mental health and well-being. It causes prolonged distress, anxiety and frustration, impacts on confidence and self-esteem and leads to people avoiding things like swimming, holidays, social events and intimacy. There are, of course, restrictions on clothing and daily activities. There is an ongoing sense of being unfinished in recovery, and this is really the key thing I wish to ask about here. The recovery and treatment should cover everything up to the end of the reconstruction. I do want to acknowledge my party colleague Senator Teresa Costello, who has spoken about this quite a lot, including a few months ago. Delayed reconstruction is now categorised as non-urgent, despite substantial psychological consequences, and I am asking the Minister of State to have it classified as urgent.

I thank Senator O'Loughlin for raising this really important issue today. As she knows, I am taking this Commencement matter on behalf of the Minister, Deputy Jennifer Carroll MacNeill, who cannot be here. The Senator has highlighted a really important issue. The Government is committed to improving cancer care, ensuring better prevention and maintaining improvements in cancer survival rates and timely access to treatments.

As the Senator said, breast cancer is the most common cancer among women in Ireland. Almost 4,000 cases of breast cancer were diagnosed in Ireland in 2025. Fortunately, under the national cancer strategies, survival rates for breast cancer have greatly improved. The most recent figures show a five-year survival rate of 87.5% for people diagnosed between 2019 and 2022, which we all really welcome. The stage of the diagnosis has a significant impact on survival rates and earlier diagnosis often leads to better outcomes.

The Minister, the Department and the HSE recognise that breast reconstruction surgery following treatment for cancer is an important part of a patient's recovery and should be accessible to everyone who wants to have it.

There is a wide range of treatments for breast cancer. Surgical options are discussed through the consultant with the patients to see what they want. Where surgery involves a mastectomy, options for reconstruction surgery will also be discussed. The reconstruction is often done at the same time as the mastectomy surgery, but it can be done at a later date. The HSE's national cancer control programme, NCCP, reports that access to services is affected by several issues. The surgery is a stand-alone procedure. It must be scheduled within the overall surgical capacity of the hospital and can be affected by unscheduled care and demand for theatre access. Surgeries can be lengthy and complex depending on the type of reconstruction taking place. Significant clinical and nursing expertise can be needed.

The implementation of the NCCP's hereditary cancer model of care, which was published in 2023, means that women who have an identified genetic predisposition can be referred to the specialist services to discuss risk reduction strategies, including preventable double mastectomies, which can include breast reconstruction based on a patient's preference. In 2023, the NCCP carried out a survey of cancer centres that looked at waiting times for reconstruction surgeries. The NCCP worked with the HSE acute operations to facilitate access for hospitals to the National Treatment Purchase Fund, NTPF, as a short-term measure to help to speed up the reconstructive surgeries across the different cancer centres and reduce overall waiting times.

In 2025, the NCCP provided funding to Cork University Hospital to pilot a project for patients to receive their risk-reducing surgery in the South Infirmary Victoria University Hospital using elective theatre space. This pilot allows surgeries to be scheduled in a timely way suitable to the patients and does not compete with other cancer or unscheduled care demands. My thoughts go out to the patients still waiting for their surgery. The Government and I recognise the urgency of need for patients to receive their surgery so they can finish their treatment and move on with their lives. The Government remains committed to the implementation of the national cancer strategy and to continually build on improvements to service and better outcomes for patients.

I thank the Minister of State. In her response, she acknowledged that "breast reconstruction surgery following treatment is an important part of a patient's recovery and should be accessible to everybody". It is not just an important part; it should be an urgent part. It is not cosmetic. It is a recognised component of cancer recovery. At the moment, public patients are facing prolonged uncertain waits. It appears from the statistics that women's reconstructive surgery is consistently deprioritised within the elective care system. The delayed reconstruction effectively extends the cancer journey by several years. It undermines recovery, dignity and long-term well-being. There must be more that the Minister and the HSE can do. I acknowledge that the treatment abroad scheme is used, but that is not going to suit everybody. We need to get the data on the waiting list action plan 2025. Going forward, we need to look at surgeons promoting immediate surgery when it suits. There also needs to be an increased Government budget allowance.

What the Senator said is important for women waiting on this surgery. I assure her that the Department and HSE are working on reducing waiting times for this surgery. While immediate reconstruction can avoid a second hospital procedure - I think that is more important - delayed reconstruction allows for more time for decision making and can ensure that necessary cancer therapies are not delayed. Successive national cancer strategies have delivered a continued improvement in the outcomes for cancer patients. Since the beginning of the national cancer strategy in 2017, the Government has allocated €105 million to support cancer services and improve outcomes for patients. Under this investment, more patients are being seen in the specialist centre and more patients are being reviewed.

New drugs and therapies are being made available and patients are receiving better support with their cancer treatment.

I ask the Senator to give me the lady's details because her case is one that we need to look into, particularly as the Senator said that she has gone back down to the end of the waiting list. That is a worry for me. I assure the Senator that the HSE and the Department are working at getting those waiting times down. I thank her for raising this issue today. It is also important to mention Senator Costello who has been highlighting this issue too.

I thank the Minister of State for being here today. I want to mention something urgent that affects 110 children in this State and is very time-sensitive. I refer to the ongoing delay in getting access to givinostat, a treatment for Duchenne muscular dystrophy. This is not about debating the policy on how medicines are given but about the children who are being affected and their families. It is also about how the time delays are affecting those children.

I was contacted by a constituent who has a child whom I will call Jack. He is 11-years-old, loves superheroes and is an ordinary little kid. He should be worrying about friends and school but at the moment he is worrying about whether his body is going to keep up. Every step he takes becomes more difficult. As the Minister of State knows, for families living with Duchenne it becomes a countdown. They do not talk about it much but it is always there. They have to think about how long a child will be able to climb the stairs or to play football. What is awful about Duchenne is that is relentlessly progressive so whatever is lost is permanently lost and cannot be regained. That is why givinostat really matters in this situation. Families know that there is no cure and are not pretending otherwise. What is important is time for children like Jack to walk that bit longer, to be independent and to have time to hold on to the ordinary moments that childhood should bring. For his parents, progress will not be measured in clinical terms but in short-term wins and how long Jack can continue playing football and climbing the stairs in the house.

When Jack's mum first heard about givinostat, she did not feel false hope but she did realise that the story would not only be about loss but that something in the progression of the disease might be slowed down. The Duchenne community really hopes that givinostat, if allowed, will not be just another medicine but will actually be a lifeline for them. The Minister of State will have received all of the details regarding this particular case. The HSE has provided a response regarding its assessment and reimbursement process. I understand that there are systems and safeguards in place but what the families are struggling with is the silence. They are not hearing anything back. The reimbursement application for givinostat has been in progress since August 2024. It has been worked on and been under consideration for nearly 18 months but unfortunately there is no timeline or indication of when a decision might be made and no sense of when the end will be in sight. For the Duchenne community, the delay is what matters because every regression in the child's body is a loss that cannot be regained. They are not asking for shortcuts but are asking for clarity, honesty and for a system that understands what is actually happening regarding the children.

Givinostat has already received EU conditional authorisation and is available in other jurisdictions. It is seen as a treatment that slows down the disease but in Ireland children are being left in limbo which is hard to explain to parents. Today I am asking for three things, the first of which is an acknowledgement that the lack of any clear timeline is causing real angst among families. Second, when are the HSE and the NCPE processes expected to conclude? Families deserve to know this. Finally, will the HSE be asked to prioritise and expedite the assessment of givinostat, given its regulatory status and availability elsewhere? When a treatment has already met EU standards, it is not unreasonable to expect momentum in our own jurisdiction. These families are not looking for promises. They are just looking for clarity, straight answers and transparency because time is a serious factor here.

I thank the Senator for raising this issue which I am taking on behalf of the Minister for Health, Deputy Carroll MacNeill today.

It is an important topic, as the Senator said.

Duchenne muscular dystrophy is a rare disease affecting fewer than 200 people in Ireland. The Minister met with families of children with DMD in July 2025 and spoke at Muscular Dystrophy Ireland's national conference in December 2025. The State acknowledges the importance of access to medicines and is aware of the plight of patients with DMD. This Government is committed to providing timely access to new and innovative medicines. Significant investments have been made in recent years, with annual spending on medicines now more than €3 billion. This is a very welcome investment to support patients through the availability of new medicines. This investment has included dedicated funding of €158 million for new medicines from budgets 2021 to 2025. Budget 2026 allocated an additional €30 million in funding for new drugs. All this investment has allowed the HSE to approve reimbursement for 250 new medicines, or new uses for existing medicines, including 101 for treating cancer and 69 for treating rare diseases.

Givinostat, sold under the brand name Duvyzat, has recently undergone assessment by the European Medicines Agency. The EMA evaluation recommended that it be granted conditional marketing authorisation for the treatment of DMD in ambulant patients aged six years or older. The European Commission granted this conditional marketing authorisation on 6 June 2025. The HSE has statutory responsibility for decisions on pricing and reimbursement of medicines and medical items, in accordance with the Health (Pricing and Supply of Medical Goods) Act 2013. The Minister for Health met with her Italian counterpart at the Employment, Social Policy, Health and Consumer Affairs, EPSCO, Council meeting in June 2025 to ask him to encourage the developing company, Italfarmaco, to submit a timely pricing and reimbursement application to Ireland.

On 6 August 2025, an application for reimbursement was received by the HSE and underwent a rapid review by the National Centre for Pharmacoeconomics, NCPE. As I said, that happened really quickly. Following the conclusion of a rapid review on 14 August 2025, a full health technology assessment, HTA, was commissioned by the HSE on 26 August 2025. On 30 September 2025, the NCPE met with the developer to assist in the HTA process. The assessment could not continue until the NCPE received the full health technology assessment from the company, which was received on 15 January 2026. The HSE has advised that it will process and assess any pricing and reimbursement application received as efficiently as possible within the resources available to it. The HSE has also advised that the application remains under consideration and it cannot make any comment on possible outcomes from the ongoing process, but I assure the Senator it is being looked at and is a priority for the Minister.

I thank the Minister of State for being so forthright. She stated that the HSE "has also advised that the application remains under consideration and it cannot make any comment on possible outcomes from the ongoing process", so timelines are still questionable there. I fully accept assessments exist and procedures matter but, unfortunately, Duchenne muscular dystrophy does not wait for process and these children's illness does not pause while we are dealing with the paperwork. We are 18 months on from the initial assessment of this application and there is still no final timeline. Every month and every day really matters. It is shrinking windows at this stage.

Parents are not asking the Minister of State to bypass any legislation or safeguards, but they are asking her to name a timeframe indicating whether this decision is weeks away. Otherwise, they are living in complete uncertainty. Will the Minister of State make sure we commit to a clear timeline regarding givinostat?

The Senator is right. It is important we get a timeline. There have been a lot of meetings, as the Senator heard from my response. The Minister is absolutely committed. I assure the Senator she appreciates the importance of ensuring patients with Duchenne in Ireland have access to the latest treatment. As a Minister of State in the Department of Health, I am very appreciative of this too and I do understand. The HSE has sole statutory responsibility for making decisions about which medicines are reimbursed.

The Government has been committed to investing in the medicine since 2021. The HSE has approved 250 new medicines and new uses for existing medicines. Two new framework agreements, in principle, have been reached with the Irish Pharmaceutical Healthcare Association, IPHA, and Medicines For Ireland, MFI, regarding pricing and supply of medicines. As part of these agreements, the State, MFI and the IPHA have agreed to develop a future strategy partnership which will support the Department in developing a pilot early access programme focused on rare diseases, in line with commitments in the programme for Government. There are a few other rare diseases in Ireland. The Minister has committed to working on this. I thank the Senator for raising it.

I know the Minister of State is staying for the next Commencement matter. I thank her for that and for her time in the House today.

I thank the Minister of State for coming in. I acknowledge her work in this area. The drugs strategy is part of her brief. This is an urgent issue for Laois and Portlaoise. It goes to the heart of patient safety, dignity and access to care. I refer to the urgent need for medically supervised detoxification beds at Midland Regional Hospital Portlaoise. We have no rehabilitation centres for anyone with addiction in Laois. There are no detoxification beds in the county. There are no dedicated detoxification beds in Midland Regional Hospital Portlaoise. This means that when people in the midlands present seeking help for serious alcohol or drug dependence, they are often left waiting in overcrowded emergency departments or, even worse, discharged into unsafe environments where withdrawal can be medically dangerous and, in some cases, life-threatening.

This is not a policy gap on paper; it is something that families have to live with in Laois and all over Ireland every day. Loved ones finally reach a point where they can ask for help, often at a great personal cost, only to find out that the system cannot safely respond at a critical moment. The gap has been repeatedly highlighted by the ARC Project in Laois, a voluntary, community-led initiative supporting individuals affected by addiction and their families. The ARC Project provides peer-led recovery supports, family spaces and community-based programmes rooted in lived experiences. It works with people at the most difficult points of their lives and sees first-hand how the absence of these detox beds acts as barrier to recovery and, at times, puts people in serious risk.

Following advocacy from the ARC Project, a motion was brought before Laois County Council by Marie Tuohy calling on the Minister for Health to establish three medically supervised detoxification beds in Midland Regional Hospital Portlaoise, with seven-day admission pathways and clear links to HSE addiction services and community recovery supports. That motion reflects a strong, growing consensus locally that this gap must be addressed. There is also a public petition signed by hundreds of people in Laois and across Ireland requesting this. The ask is modest; it is just three beds. It is practical and achievable, but three detox beds would provide safe medical supervision during withdrawal, reduce the pressure on already overstretched emergency departments, support families at a moment of acute crisis and, crucially, create a real, safe pathway into recovery, rather than another dead end, and sometimes, in cases, suicide, which is an area we really have to acknowledge and do more work in.

I ask the Minister of State to acknowledge the lack of detoxification beds at Midland Regional Hospital Portlaoise. What are the plans to address it? I know we spoke before and the Minister of State is aware of the great work that the ARC Project is doing in Portlaoise, and I welcome that she will visit it. That it is important and we would like her to visit Midland Regional Hospital Portlaoise and the midlands. We would also like the Minister to visit. We need this issue to get to the forefront and for something to be done about it, because we cannot continue to leave people who need to do safe detoxification with nowhere to turn.

I thank the Senator for raising this important issue. Midland Regional Hospital Portlaoise is a model 3 hospital, providing acute care services, with 71 beds.

As we know, it serves the populations of Laois, Kildare, Carlow and north Tipperary. As the Senator said, the hospital does not provide supervised detoxification beds and at present, there are no proposals for this. I will speak to officials to look at this and keep it under consideration. As the Senator noted, I received a draft of the national drugs strategy last week and I welcome this. I also have instructed the Department officials to put the draft of the strategy out to public consultation and I will have the details of this soon. It is important that it happens because it will be very important in the future.

The demand for drug services is reported annually through the national drugs treatment reporting system. In 2024 more than 22,000 cases of problem drug and alcohol use were treated. Of these, 20% were treated in residential settings, which also are known as a tier 4 service. This is the difference and it includes treatment in specialised inpatient detoxification services. Residential treatment services are provided by specialist and dedicated inpatient residential units or wards, which provide inpatient detoxification or assisted withdrawal and stabilisation. Some of the service users with complex needs, such as dual diagnosis, which the Senator spoke about, or pregnancy, liver or HIV-related problems, may need inpatient treatment in general psychiatric wards or acute hospitals.

The HSE centre provides annual funding of €8.4 million for treatment episodes, depending on regional needs and service capacity. This is why the new drugs strategy will be so important when we put it out to public consultation. It is ten years since we had the last national drugs strategy and it is very important now because drugs affect everyone. I can honestly say there is not a family or someone who knows a family in Ireland that is not affected by drugs. This is what we have to look at now. We have to look at the services, where they are and who can access them, as well as making sure the services are there for the people who need them. This is part of the new drugs strategy and it is so important. I am very mindful of this.

Approximately 174 residential treatment detoxification beds are available nationally. These are from a variety of service providers. Access to residential detoxification beds is based on need. Someone from the midlands region can access residential services in any suitable location. The provision of the detoxification programme occurs after a comprehensive medical assessment. In some cases it may be appropriate to provide detoxification in a community setting through a doctor or a HSE addiction clinic. People who wish to access a detoxification service should make contact with their GP or local drugs service to make a referral.

Budget 2026 provided €11 million in additional funding for drug and inclusive health services. This includes residential services and I recently opened the new HSE Cuan Dara residential treatment facility, which will benefit from this new funding. This facility will provide an additional 18 residential treatment beds for medically complex cases, bringing the capacity to 30 beds. These additional beds will be available for people seeking treatment for complex additional needs, including dual diagnosis, pregnancy or other medical conditions, on a national basis. This demonstrates that we are committed and I understand that we need to look at the services on a region-by-region basis. I thank the Senator for highlighting this very important issue today.

I welcome that the Minister of State has said that drugs and addiction more broadly is something that affects every family. There is no family across the island of Ireland that is not affected by it. This is why it is so important that we do everything we can. The Minister of State spoke about residential services. Unfortunately, when we live in a county such as Laois we do not have any of this. There is nowhere people can go for residential treatment for any of these services. This is why this modest ask of just three detoxification beds is so important.

I understand that we have only a model 3 hospital; I did not know this is a reason we cannot have the service I am asking for. There is a growing population and we have well over 93,000 people in County Laois. As the Minister of State knows, Midland Regional Hospital Portlaoise serves counties around all around it. People are on trolleys in the emergency department there every day. We have a psychiatric unit and a maternity unit. We have so much there and yet we cannot provide for the most vulnerable people in our communities who are dealing with addiction.

Providing access to high-quality drug and alcohol services is a key priority of mine and the Department, and I am focused on the whole country.

The Department of Health is finalising a audit of drug and alcohol services. This will support our new health regions in their planning. This is what we are working on at the moment, namely, funding and delivery of drug and alcohol services. It will highlight those areas and groups that are unequal. This is what I am really focused on. I can assure the Senator that it is my intention to provide equal access to services, in line with the Sláintecare principle of right care, right place, right time. I am looking forward to visiting in the next few days. I have the appointment made. I would love to see the Senator there and it is important for me to meet everyone, to see what we need to look at and what we can do.

I thank the Minister for coming to the House to deal with this Commencement matter.

Cuirim fáilte roimh an Aire go dtí an Teach seo inniu. I thank her for taking time out of her schedule to be here. The topic I want to discuss is one I know is close to the Minister's own heart, namely, the interim special school in County Monaghan. I know that the Minister of State kindly gave up her time last week to visit that school and a number of others. The visit went down a treat so I thank her for her time there.

As the Minister is aware, the parents of County Monaghan have been campaigning for a number of years for a special school for the county. Heretofore, children with special needs in both Monaghan and Cavan went to the Holy Family Special School, Cootehill, County Cavan, under the guidance there of Rachel Moynagh and her excellent staff. It is a fantastic school that is going from strength to strength. Parents in Monaghan have been campaigning for a number of years for a special school to cater for the children of the county. Thankfully, the Minister's Cabinet colleague, Deputy Foley, selected Monaghan last year as a location for an interim special school. I very much welcome this decision. From there, in a short time, the ETB was able to pull it all together to ensure that the school opened in October 2025.

As the Minister knows from last week's visit, the school is going from strength to strength with 18 children being accommodated there. Reports coming back from parents and staff are hugely positive. Everyone is pulling together and they are doing an excellent job. Unfortunately, the demand is ever increasing and with that in mind, I understand that the ETB is now exploring the possibility of trying to have an additional six spaces to the rear of that particular building. Design work, etc., is ongoing at the moment. As the Minister knows from her visit, the topography of the site is particularly difficult, which brings its own challenges when it comes to designing additional spaces. However, these additional spaces are needed and we very much welcome that work.

When it comes to the special school in Monaghan the word being mentioned all along and when the Minister, Deputy Foley, made her decision last year was "interim". We must not lose sight of that. With that in mind, from speaking to staff as the Minister herself did last week, everyone is anxious that in tandem with the design work for the six additional spaces, work would now continue within the county and in the ETB to try to find a site that could be used for a purpose-built facility somewhere in the county that would suit the needs not just in the short to medium term but in the long term of children with special needs in County Monaghan. This is the reason I put down this Commencement matter today, that is, to try to get an update from the Minister on what level of work has been done up to now to locate another site. The initial announcement was made with the proviso that as soon as the school was opened, the focus would then be on trying to find that site. I hope the Minister will give me an update as to where we are in relation to trying to locate a site for a purpose-built special school for County Monaghan.

Again, I thank her for her time. I know she spent the guts of two days in Monaghan. Her time was very much appreciated there. She discovered for herself the great work going on from an educational perspective, from teachers and parents alike and from staff of the ETB, who are working very hard to provide the best possible platform for our children to be the best they possibly can be as they grow up and become adults. I thank the Minister sincerely for her time last week.

I thank Senator Gallagher for raising this issue. It gives me an opportunity to outline to the House the Department of Education and Youth's plans to address the accommodation needs for Monaghan Community Special School. The Senator is correct: I had a fantastic visit to the school, one of five new special schools established for the 2025-26 school year. My Department's priority and my own was to open that school as quickly as possible to help to support those 18 children who urgently needed an education support place within our schools. As the Senator knows, the school operates under the patronage of Cavan and Monaghan Education and Training Board. The school supports 18 children and young people aged between four and 18 years of age with a diagnosis of autism and complex needs or students with complex learning needs. Again, I commend the phenomenal staff up there. What I witnessed was best in class in relation to the supports, the care and the educational supports they are providing to children. There is an administrative principal, an administrative deputy principal, five class teachers and nine special needs assistants together with ten co-operation hours per week.

This new school is located in Castleblayney, in a former ETB school property that was repurposed to facilitate the opening of the new school. There was a great sense of urgency, as the Senator has outlined, in getting this school opened. That project was delivered under the Department's SEN reconfiguration and modular accommodation programme, which facilitated the school opening as quickly as possible. The school authority has been granted further capital funding for phase 2 of the project. That involves the provision of modular accommodation to provide six special education needs places, and supporting ancillary accommodation under the special education needs reconfiguration and modular accommodation programme.

During my visit last week with the Senator and Deputy David Maxwell, both of whom are very much championing the progress and support of the school, I could really see the commitment of the staff to the students under their care. I was very pleased to speak with the parents, who relayed to me the importance of this school and how life-changing it is not just for their children but for their families and their wider families. I absolutely understand the importance of this and of continuing to provide special classes and special places right across the country, including Monaghan.

As I have stated previously, my Department last year committed to opening Monaghan Community Special School as quickly as possible. I am engaging with officials about the provision of future special schools and special classes right across the country, including in Monaghan. This process will be informed by the number of students and young people seeking special school and special class provision, the availability of accommodation in existing schools across the country, and other matters such as acquisition of land if required. That process is ongoing.

As the Senator knows, the National Council for Special Education, which was present last week in Monaghan, is the statutory body responsible for the provision of special education and the allocation of supports for children with special educational needs. Over 2,700 new places were provided for the 2025-26 school year, meaning that there are now 3,741 special classes nationwide. In Monaghan, we have 60 special classes now in operation providing capacity for 360 students. That includes six new special classes for the 2025-26 school year, meaning that the number of classes in County Monaghan has almost doubled since 2020. I might leave it there because I think I am out of time for now.

I thank the Minister for her response and concur with her 100%. There was a very warm feeling from her visit last week. Every time I go into or come out of that school, I feel good because, as the Minister herself said, speaking to parents and hearing how the opening of that school has transformed their lives completely is a hugely positive thing. I commend everyone involved in getting this open.

We look forward to the expansion to the rear, which will potentially consist of six modular units. In tandem with that, it is vitally important that we do not lose sight of the fact that this is an interim facility and that we must now seek a site somewhere in the county. I am sure there are lands available that could become the site of a purpose-built facility, which is much needed. If I took the Minister up correctly, work to find a site is ongoing at the moment. I think that is what she said. Perhaps she could clarify that for me.

In budget 2026, we secured funding for 3,000 new specialist places. The NCSE is currently examining where best to locate those places for the 2026-27 school year. As the Senator has outlined, it was a priority to get the 18 places opened. They are now up and running. The next step is to get the next six school places up and running through modular builds on that site. Work is progressing with the Department to identify further potential sites right across the country, including in Monaghan. We all acknowledge that will take time. The priority was to get these 18 children into their classrooms. The next priority is the next six.

I thank the Minister for coming to the House. I know she is busy. We really appreciate her giving us her time. It is always extra appreciated to have a Minister in the House. I thank the Senator for tabling this Commencement matter.