My question on the status of the development of a school is specific. I have given the details. It is currently at stage 2(b). I would be grateful if the Minister could give me a more precise timeline for the completion of the project and more specific details.

At the outset, I recognise this project has been ongoing for some time. The major building project for the school referred to by Deputy Connolly will provide a new 16-classroom primary school with additional classrooms for pupils with special education needs.

Following planning conditions imposed in 2018, a redesign was necessary. At that point, additional capacity was added to the school and subsequent planning was achieved in September 2023.

The project is at an advanced stage of architectural planning, stage 2(b), detailed design, where the design team has secured all statutory applications and is preparing the suite of tender documents. The stage 2(b) submission was received by the Department in March 2025 for review by the multidisciplinary team. This is under way. Once this is complete, the next step will be a meeting of all stakeholders regarding the stage submission report. Since 2020, the Department has invested more than €6 billion in schools throughout the country under the national development plan, NDP, involving the completion of almost 1,400 school building projects.

The Government's support for this investment has delivered real benefits for school communities. A recent Government decision has approved €210 million in supplementary capital funding for the Department to support the provision of special education accommodation and meet school place needs. This brings the total capital allocation for 2025 for the Department to €1.6 billion.

As part of the NDP review process, the Department is engaging with the Department of public expenditure with respect to NDP allocations for the period 2026 to 2030. It is expected that there will be clarity on these allocations over the course of the summer, allowing the Department to plan its capital investment programme for the 2026 to 2030 period in line with prioritised needs and reflecting, as appropriate, wider Government priorities.

I thank the Minister of State. He clearly and honestly acknowledged that this has been going on for some time. Even if we take 2018 as the start, when it was redesigned, we are in the eighth year now in which this school has been in dire need of a new school. I know it is at stage 2(b) and the Minister of State has confirmed the submission was given to the Department in March of this year. Maybe he could tell me how long that process is going to take, when it will come out of that review process and how it will get into the next stage. Will he give me a timeline? Given the background and the extraordinary length of time it has taken, the school needs hope at this point. It has been patient but it needs a timeline for precisely when it will be completed.

Yes, the submission has been with the Department since March. These reviews take time. I do not have a specific date for the Deputy but I will endeavour to get that information to her as a matter of priority. Both the Minister, Deputy McEntee, and I will follow up to ensure that it is done as speedily as possible. I will endeavour to come back to Deputy Connolly with that timeline and a report as to how the process is going through the Department.

I appreciate that hands-on approach and that the Minister of State is going to come back. However, he can imagine the frustration over such a length of time. The Minister of State said that this takes some time to review. What time roughly? Are we talking six months, three months, nine months? How many are in that? What is the difficulty? What is the delay? Maybe if he cannot come now, if he can do his best now and come back to me in writing in relation to it, that would be very helpful to the school.

I will come back to the Deputy on it in writing. The documentation submitted in March, as I understand it, is quite a detailed document and involves a lot of work to make sure it is properly gone through. I give the Deputy a commitment that we will work to make sure it goes through the Department as speedily as possible, and we will come back to her in writing.

I am looking for an update on the status of a request for SNA support for Gurteen National School in County Galway. Gurteen has applied, gone through the process, had its review and was hopeful that over the Easter break it would have been able to interview people. Can I please get an update on the status of that application for SNA support?

I thank the Deputy for the question. The Government is fully committed to supporting children with special educational needs to fulfil their full potential, and the programme for Government makes a number of commitments to deliver on this objective. The National Council for Special Education, NCSE, has responsibility for co-ordinating and advising on education provision for children with special educational needs, including the allocation of special needs assistants. The NCSE contacted all schools on 6 June to advise them of any changes to the SNA allocations for the coming school year, 2025-26.

In regard to Gurteen National School, I am pleased to confirm that the NCSE has advised me it has allocated one additional SNA to the school for the next school year, 2025-26. I am very much aware of the central role that SNAs play in the successful inclusion of students with additional needs and significant care needs in schools.

Looking back over the past 20 years at SNAs and the work they do, we should always compliment them because they really have made our education system more inclusive. They help to ensure that these students can access an education to enable them to achieve their best outcomes and reach their full potential. The number of SNAs available for allocation has continued to increase annually, resulting in a significant increase in the number of SNA posts employed by schools. Budget 2025 provided for 1,600 SNAs, the largest number ever allocated, which brings to over 23,000 the number of SNAs in our schools. The NCSE manages the allocation of SNAs to schools and it is the responsibility of the NCSE to ensure that these resources are allocated to the children with the greatest level of need.

That is fantastic news for Gurteen. I thank the Minister of State and the Minister for their commitment to special education. It is vital and the needs have to be met. The most important thing is that every child have a fair chance in school and get the support he or she needs to thrive.

I attended the Irish National Teachers' Organisation, INTO, briefing yesterday. Its proposal for special educational needs co-ordinators, SENCOs, in schools is a really worth considering. I have no further questions but I appreciate the update on Gurteen.

I take the point. I also met with the INTO yesterday in regard to its pre-budget submissions. It outlined the challenges in respect of SENCOs. The provision of special education has developed extraordinarily throughout the country over recent years. We have to pay tribute to school leadership and the school communities, be they teachers, SNAs or the other support people who make that possible. We have to look at how we are going to make it more inclusive and what better way we can structure the system to improve it. The Deputy's suggestion is certainly something that we will look at.

What work has been done to ensure appropriate primary and secondary school placements for all children? We know about the issue that has existed in regard to those with special needs. Can we ensure that everything is in place for the academic year 2025-26? We know the constant problems there have been, with parents having been put through the mincer, for want of a better term. We need to ensure we are looking after all our citizens properly.

Deputy Crowe also has a question on this issue.

My question is to do with placements but also displacements. Challenges in the school system include cases of schools having lost a teacher because the Ukrainian children were moved out of the school. This happened in two schools in my constituency. It is outside the control of the school. We are told there will be extra resources and supports for these children, but here is a school in my constituency that has lost a teacher because of outside factors. That is not covered under the circular in regard to school placement and so on. I have written to the Minister directly. I should have put down a question for today. I have learned that for the future. Is there any flexibility from the Department in regard to these matters? It is placement but it is also displacement.

In respect of special classes and the huge issue of provision, the Government is totally committed to the provision of special classes and special needs places to allow children to grow to their full potential. Almost 400 special classes have been sanctioned for this year. Of these, 287 are at primary level and 112 are at post-primary level.

In April of this year, the Department wrote to all schools opening new special classes requesting them to begin admissions processes without delay. The NCSE is engaging closely with schools and patron bodies to ensure that schools offer places to children seeking them as quickly as possible. The vast majority of schools opening new special classes have opened for admissions. The NCSE is engaging with a number of schools in Dublin to ensure the admission process is initiated as quickly as possible. Where these schools do not move to commence admissions processes, the NCSE will use the statutory powers under section 67 of the Education Act 1998 to direct schools to enrol children.

My Department recently wrote to all schools outlining the need for all schools to review their admissions policies to ensure these policies are in keeping with best practice and are facilitating those children who most need access to a special class placement. Schools should also ensure they are working closely with the NCSE to support the children known to the NCSE by mid-February 2025.

An appeal mechanism is available to schools in respect of appealing a decision that was made on the number of teachers in the school. I am not sure whether that process has been followed. The other thing I would say is that the Deputy might forward me the details. I do not have a document with me in respect of that particular school but I would be happy to follow it up.

Some of the complaints have been that in many cases, particularly when we are talking about secondary schools, we are aware of the children who are in primary school and coming into that age bracket. It is about making sure everybody is talking to everybody else to ensure the NCSE, the schools and the Department have the information. I agree that action did need to happen on school admissions policies. I have proposed legislation in respect of the fact that for kids with additional needs, there should be a two-year run-in. I know changes have happened. A two-year run-in would allow the school to prepare whatever resources are required and we would actually have those places on hand. That is an absolute necessity.

I am grateful that the Minister of State came back to me on Shelagh national school. It is a matter of making sure the second unit is put in place. We have to look again at school-based therapies. Is there a possibility of any timeline for this in respect of special schools, schools with units and then mainstream?

There are a couple of things there. We understand the challenges that are ahead of us in terms of post-primary education because of the information we have at primary level. The Minister, Deputy McEntee, and myself are acutely aware of it and are working extremely hard on it. One of the things we agreed very early on was to bring back the date from 1 February to 1 October to give better planning. I take the Deputy's point. We had some challenges in respect of primary school because the NCSE or the Department had not been notified of children with additional needs. We are going to plan that better.

On the Deputy's own county of Louth, I think we have facilitated everybody who was requiring a place in Louth this year. An awful lot of great work has been done by the NCSE, the Department and the SENOs, and of course the school communities. The Government has made a decision and a memo was taken to the Government this week in respect of therapies within the schools. That is an ongoing discussion which has taken place over the last while at the Cabinet subcommittee on disability. They will be rolled out to the special schools this year. We have a lot of work done on that and an awful lot more that we will be doing over the next while.

I welcome the answer but I agree with the Minister of State that more work needs to be done. We are still being contacted by those who do not have places for next year. We need those cases sorted as soon as possible. It is not right. I would appreciate if the Minister of State could come back to me in writing with some more detail on the timeline for school-based therapies. I will be pushing this. On the common application system, it needs not to be a common application system from the point of view of failure. It has to be about delivery. We know the issues that exist. I do not know if it is the Minister of State or the Minister, Deputy McEntee, who would need to deal with that but it is very hard not to deal with the issue.

Deputy Dolan spoke about the INTO and the necessity for SENCOs. I agree with him on that. The INTO has also spoken about the fact that the capitation funding is not cutting the mustard. We heard what the CPSMA said today along with the principals of Scoil Aonghusa , St. Joseph's CBS, Tullyallen NS and Scoil Naomh Feichín, all in Louth. Deputy Joanna Byrne has dealt with some of those issues previously. We are talking about schools that are almost running into the ground because they do not have funding. This is not funding for the extras; it is to keep the show on the road. It needs to be addressed.

On the therapists within the schools, that is being rolled out from September into the special schools. The plan is for the special schools in the first instance and then on to the special classes. They will be great enablers to provide the best possible outcomes for children with additional needs throughout the education system. An awful lot of work has gone into it over the last while. I compliment the Minister, Deputy McEntee, as well as the previous Minister on their commitment and the work they have done over the last while. It is something we are very focused on. We want to make sure that it happens in a meaningful way and that it strengthens the education system going forward. This is a very important piece of work for the Government and for the Minister, Deputy McEntee, and myself to ensure it is done.

On the issues raised by the INTO yesterday, I did hear the commentary on the radio this morning. We are listening very carefully to all of the issues at school level. The Minister, Deputy McEntee, and I have been visiting schools around the country. We are getting information at every level on it. We will be working to ensure we do the right thing by schools and the school communities.

I am asking for an update on the application from St. Kevin's Community College in Clondalkin to replace their 50-year-old prefabs. These prefabs are old. They are not fit for purpose. They are not a good learning environment for pupils or a good working environment for teachers. I have health and safety concerns that I have reported to the appropriate authorities. When will these 50-year-old prefabs be replaced?

I am aware that my Department is in receipt of an application for capital funding under the additional school accommodation scheme from the school in question. The school applied in late 2024 for the additional school accommodation and for prefabs to be replaced. This is currently being assessed under the ASA scheme. This application seeks the replacement of accommodation that is 50 years old, as the Deputy said. I appreciate that this is an absolute priority for the school.

Since 2020, my Department has invested over €6 billion in our schools throughout the country under the national development plan, involving the completion of over 1,375 school building projects. We are supporting investment, including by way of supplementary capital funding, and it is delivering real benefits for school communities. A recent Government decision to approve €210 million in additional funding for my Department brings our allocation for this year to €1.6 billion.

As part of the NDP review process, all Departments, including my own, are currently engaging with the Department of Public Expenditure, Infrastructure, Public Service Reform and Digitalisation with respect to NDP allocations for the period 2026 to 2030. Like every Department, I want to build on the capital funding we have and try to increase it further. It is expected that there will be clarity on these allocations over the course of the summer period, and this will allow my Department to plan its capital investment programme for next year right up to 2030 in line with prioritised needs and reflecting, as appropriate, wider Government priorities. Maximising existing capacity in schools to meet needs is very important. The progression of prioritised individual projects to meet the most urgent needs in the 2026 to 2030 period that cannot be met through existing capacity - while there is a huge amount of projects already under way - across schools in the local area will be considered on a rolling basis from autumn onwards after the NDP allocations are finalised. In respect of this project, we have to see what the overall allocation is for next year, and how we fit all the projects into it including the school in question. The school will be considered in that context. I do not have a timeline for the Deputy but it is being assessed. It will come in at the end of the year and we will look at it the same way as other projects in this context.

I am a former pupil of St. Kevin's Community College and have been working with the school for a long time - not just since 2024 - to get these prefabs replaced.

The school and I have been receiving some contrasting information from the Department in the last months. In April, a communication referred to when the school had appointed a design team and the site presenting technical challenges, and that the Department was awaiting a decision from the school authority regarding how to proceed. The school was never asked to appoint a design team, so I do not know what that communication coming back was about. In May, the Department contacted me again and confirmed that the school's application was being considered by officials and that they had been in contact with the school authority in relation to the application. Yesterday, I got the response from the Department that the Minister has given me now in relation to the additional school accommodation scheme for St. Kevin's. The assessment has been completed. What was its outcome? The Minister said it is difficult to give a timeline, but 50 years is a long time to have prefabs in situ . I am pressing to see if we can get some sort of timeline to get these prefabs replaced.

If anything needs to be clarified with the school, we will make sure that is the case and where work needs to be done, we will ensure this is made clear to the school. What is happening now is that the assessment is taking place, but this is something that will have to be looked at as part of the 2026-2030 overall budget. We do not have that absolute figure at the moment, so my Department is engaging with the Department of the Minister, Deputy Chambers, as is every other Department, to see what a revised NDP allocation would look like. Once those figures are understood, that will enable me, working with the Department and, in particular, the buildings unit, to look at what projects can and will take place in the years ahead.

To outline the work being done in County Dublin alone now, construction projects worth €1.24 billion have happened in recent years. Some 302 projects were completed in those five years. Currently, 51 projects are under construction. There are 18 modular projects at an advanced stage of delivery and 73 different projects at various stages of detailed design included. While I absolutely appreciate this is a priority for the school given the length of time involved, we must ensure given the scale and number of projects we are able to provide resources and supports to as many schools as possible with the budget we have and that is being worked through now.

I first attended St. Kevin's 37 years ago and these prefabs were in situ when I went to school. It is a school in an extremely disadvantaged area, but one that often punches above its weight. In fact, the Taoiseach visited the school last year to see the award-winning DEIS Connect programme. I wonder whether he knew there were kids in 50-year-old prefabs out the back. As I said, I used these prefabs when I went to school. I have aged in the last 50 years and I can only imagine how much these prefabs have aged. I visited the school a few months ago. I do not say this lightly, but I was genuinely concerned about the health and safety of the pupils and their teachers. I walked across the floor and I genuinely thought it was going to give way. I reported this to the Health and Safety Authority. An investigation is ongoing. I genuinely think it is wrong that pupils today in my area are still using the same prefabs I used 37 years ago. Those prefabs were 15 years old when I used them 37 years ago and the pupils there are still using them.

The Minister said the assessment is taking place now, but the response I got yesterday stated it has been completed.

It has taken place-----

Okay.

Yes.

It has been completed. I am again going to press to see when these prefabs are going to be replaced. Will it be in the next six months, next year or the year after?

Looking at the budget we have, my priority is to do several things. First and foremost, it is to ensure we have the capacity for students starting school in September this year and beyond and that we are forward planning. We still have a growing school population. While we know it is levelling out, in primary school numbers, and particularly in certain areas in Dublin, these numbers are still increasing. It is the same in my county of Meath and in the surrounding areas like County Kildare. We will continue to have an increasing population in our post-primary schools and this fact must be front and centre when we are making building plans. The second priority after that is ensuring we are replacing old buildings and prefabs, especially those that are not fit for purpose and have been there for as long as the Deputy mentioned. As we are negotiating and working on what that budget looks like now, I cannot give the Deputy a timeline. I can say the priority is to ensure we have places for students, we have new buildings where we need them and we are replacing accommodation that is not fit for purpose. This is certainly a project that will be a part of that conversation. It did go in at the end of last year. Obviously we want projects to move as quickly as possible, but this one is in the early stages. As I said, though, the priorities are to ensure we are providing places while also ensuring that buildings that are not fit for purpose are also replaced.

I acknowledge that there was an expansion of the DEIS programme in 2022. Given that we are in a cost-of-living crisis, will the Minister consider ordering another review and expansion of the programme? Will she also order a review of the qualification criteria with a view to broadening them out so more schools can be included in the programme? Can she also confirm that the period to appeal the 2022 expansion closed that year and will she consider an open-ended appeals process?

I thank the Deputy for raising this important issue. Tackling educational disadvantage and, in particular, supporting students who are most at risk or in need of support to achieve their full potential is a priority for me, for the Minister of State and for this Government. The DEIS programme is a key policy of the Government to tackle concentrated educational disadvantage at school level. It provides a targeted range of supports and is additional to the universal supports provided to all schools, such as the introduction of free schoolbooks and free hot school meals. My Department invests over €180 million annually to provide additional supports to almost 1,200 schools in the DEIS programme and this supports approximately 260,000 students. One in four students is currently attending a DEIS school and getting those additional supports.

I am determined to close the performance gap between DEIS and non-DEIS schools even further, because it has closed due to the introduction of this scheme, and to introduce more innovative solutions to tackle disadvantage. The programme itself has changed and opened up in the years since it was first introduced in September 2006. In 2017, it was extended to an additional 79 schools. It was then extended to 332 additional schools on top of that from September 2022. The Deputy mentioned that timeline. Included in those most recent expansions of the programme were the schools with the highest levels of concentrated disadvantage. This was identified through a refined DEIS identification model. Schools could not apply but essentially had it applied to them. I know some schools could appeal based on information that they felt had not been updated or that they had provided. Schools were not required to apply for inclusion, as I said. The detailed paper on the refined DEIS identification model is available on gov.ie . If we are to build on the expansion of the DEIS programme, and this is what we are doing now, I clearly said when I came into this Department that we wanted to introduce a new DEIS plan. It is in that context that any changes would potentially take place. I wish to ensure we have a programme that works for as many students as possible, is as targeted as possible and is applied in as fair a way as possible. Any changes to the application process or to the way it is applied that might allow newer schools in will have to be done as part of the new plan. It is intended that it will be published by the end of this year.

Go raibh maith agat. Some secondary schools receive pupils from DEIS primary schools but they are not classified as DEIS schools themselves. In my constituency, St. Patrick's Comprehensive School is one of those schools that receives DEIS pupils. All of a sudden, there is a cliff edge for those pupils suddenly missing out on supports they badly need. These pupils are often from households suffering deprivation, so receiving extra help with learning, subsidised schools meals and help with the cost of schoolbooks, etc., is essential for the entire family. Payment rates for the back-to-school clothing and footwear allowance are slightly higher this year but a far cry from those of 2011. I urge the Minister to order a new review to ensure those schools turned down for this DEIS expansion are able to appeal and are able to apply again for inclusion in the DEIS programme. It is extremely unfair for those pupils coming from DEIS primary schools not to receive the same supports in their secondary schools.

I thank the Deputy and appreciate the example she outlined. I know in some situations there may be two schools next to each other where one is included in DEIS and the other is not. Siblings from the same household might even be going to both schools. Because of the way the DEIS programme is applied now, it is based on the population in the school and it is possible to have differentiations. Even though students might be coming from three DEIS schools into another school, the overall make-up of the school may not hit the DEIS criteria or fit the bands or levels. I wish to ensure - it is difficult because there will always be somebody outside of the criteria that we have to put in place - that children in non-DEIS schools still get that support. This is really important in the context of the new DEIS plan, as is the case now.

We have several pilots under way that involve schools getting the home school liaison and school completion programmes even though they are not designated as DEIS schools. It is about expanding this out. Historically, we know there are schools that had those positions even before the DEIS programme was in place. There is one in Navan, where I recently met students. The only reason those students are still in school and doing their leaving certificate is because of those positions. I hope the new plan will create as fair a system and structure as possible and also ensure that where schools are not designated, and some of them will not be, they can still get those targeted supports directly to the students who need them.

I welcome that. Hopefully, the expansion of this scheme will come in, especially for those in need and those in disadvantaged areas.

We have seen a dramatic rise in the number of children in child poverty in the past year. It now exceeds 100,000 children, according to the Central Statistics Office. That is certain to mean that the deprivation profile of some of the schools that did not qualify in 2022 has deteriorated to the point where they may now qualify. While the Roadmap for Social Inclusion 2020-2025 pledged to reduce consistent poverty to 2%, it was at 3.6% in 2023 and has actually increased to 5% in the latest figures. These are households that our school pupils come from. It is no wonder, therefore, that child poverty has increased even more dramatically. According to the Child Poverty Monitor, the rate of consistent poverty among children has almost doubled, from 4% in 2023 to 8.5% in 2024. This shows the clear need for these schools to be brought in under DEIS.

More broadly, I wish to highlight that the child poverty unit established by my former colleague and our former Taoiseach, Leo Varadkar, is still there in the Department of the Taoiseach. We continue to work together to look at ways in which we can support the most vulnerable. The DEIS programme is key to that. It is not just the new DEIS plan but also the DEIS plus scheme we have committed to in our programme for Government. Work is well under way in that regard. It is about ensuring we do everything possible to support those most acutely at risk, such as those suffering from intergenerational trauma and children who are not at school.

As well as building on the DEIS plan that is being worked through the DEIS plus programme, I have announced a number of measures to deal with absenteeism. If our children are not in school, we cannot give them the support and every opportunity they need. It is really important we build on the positive work that is being done. Overall, it is about getting the supports to the children who need them. We will continue to have designated schools, but we will also continue to have children in schools that are not part of a DEIS programme. We need to ensure those children receive the resources as well. I am absolutely committed to working with everyone to make sure that happens.

Will the Minister provide an update on the latest figures for school completion rates?

The most recent figures available regarding school completion rates report on students who began their post-primary education in 2017. Of those students who entered first year in 2017, 90% sat the leaving certificate examination in 2022 or 2023. A total of 97.8% sat the junior certificate - now called the junior cycle - examination in 2020. While the latest retention rate to leaving certificate stage of 90% represents a decrease of one percentage point on the retention rate for the 2016 post-primary entry cohort, Ireland has one of the lowest rates of early school leavers in comparison with our European counterparts. Looking at the timelines, children who started in 2016 completed their leaving certificate or junior certificate during Covid times when there were no exams. Naturally, that led to a somewhat higher rate. A series of reports which record retention rate trends in post-primary schools over the past 26 years are available on the Department’s website. Of course, ensuring children remain in school as long as possible to undertake the leaving certificate and junior certificate is a priority for all of us.

In addition to the universal supports available to schools, such as school guidance and well-being supports, there are targeted supports such as the school completion programme, which covers 783 schools with a total population in excess of 250,000 students, and the Traveller and Roma education strategy. I know from speaking to members of the Traveller and Roma communities recently that their focus is on the junior cycle rather than just the senior cycle, unfortunately. Those numbers are very challenging at the moment. We need to do everything we can to support those students, particularly those who are most at risk, in order that they stay at school and achieve the best they can. Those supports are a key part of our response to supporting those children. They work in tandem with other supports, including the home-school community liaison, HSCL, co-ordinators and the education welfare service under my Department’s DEIS programme.

My Department, in conjunction with the Tusla education support service, TESS, is also undertaking a five-year plan to improve school attendance, as I mentioned. Those measures were introduced and announced recently. They are being rolled out. I wish to mention the Anseo programme, which is the new evidence-based framework to help schools analyse and respond to attendance data. This is central to everything we do. If we want children to stay in school to complete their exams, we need to make sure they are there in the first instance. That is feedback I am hearing strongly.

I firmly believe the Minister has made great strides on the issue of school completion. Initiatives such as free school books, hot meals, transport and even the school clothing and footwear allowance announced this week are all helping to encourage more people to stay engaged in education. Youth services have an important role to play as well. Some of the initiatives Laois and Offaly Education and Training Board, LOETB, has rolled out in my constituency are making a difference. While Offaly has one of the lower levels of school completion rates, we only get one allocation due to us having a double-county ETB. Our allocation is one third of what some of the higher allocations are for ETBs throughout the country as a result. I ask the Minister to acknowledge the need for youth services to work in parallel with the education process in order to support those dropping out of school completion at an earlier time.

I fully agree. Our youth services have such an important role to play in supporting those who are most at risk and in dealing with issues of attendance and providing that support outside of school hours. When we talk about formal education, our youth services are the informal side of that in so many instances. That is why I welcome that the area of youth has now come into the same Department as education because there is a role for both areas to work hand in hand.

My Department, which now has responsibility for youth services, will be rolling out new funding streams for the UBU Your Place Your Space scheme. They are important supports put in place throughout the country and administered through the ETBs. Each ETB will be able to apply for those supports and resources when the scheme opens. Similar to the situation in Offaly and Laois, Louth and Meath Education and Training Board, LMETB, encompasses Louth and Meath and, therefore, only has one application and will have a similar challenge. It is about building up the capacity in each county over time. Obviously, if we can benefit one county in an initial year, we will try to make sure those resources are spread as far as possible.

I acknowledge the work many of our youth services and volunteers do. They play a significant role in supporting children outside of school hours. They often support those who are most vulnerable. They have a positive role to play when it comes to school completions, school attendance and supporting children overall.

While we see an increase in the youth population in Offaly, we also see an increase in youth dependency rates. That is a call more than ever before to see this funding allocated where it is needed most. In the context of the Minister’s previous role as Minister for Justice, if we can ensure this funding is allocated and effective, we mitigate the possibility of antisocial behaviour, mental health issues, substance misuse and criminality in general. It has an important role to play. We must look at what the likes of LOETB have done in recent times. It has proven to be so effective with limited budgets. We now need to see targeted measures across both counties, particularly in Offaly, to ensure we are doing this in an effective manner. I ask that, rather than looking at specific projects, we identify where geographically we need this and then we provide it on that basis in the months ahead.

In a lot of instances in the past, what happened with funding being provided was that we focused on specific projects because there had been specific needs in areas, whether they were related to drug abuse, crime, mental health or various different challenges that young people identified. What I want to ensure is that we are looking at the geographical spread. We know young people in rural areas are just as impacted as people in urban areas, although the issues might be different. The new programme and funding that will be announced will have a particular focus on geography to make sure we have that spread and that we are looking at counties and areas which might not have benefited to the tune or in the same way as some urban areas have in the past. That does not mean urban areas will be excluded. Obviously, it is about making sure everyone gets their fair share.

I reiterate, and I agree with the Deputy, that our youth organisations have such an important role to play in identifying and supporting young people at the earliest stages possible in order that it does not get to the extreme situation where young people are engaged with youth diversion programmes or the youth justice system. We must support them at the earliest stage possible. As Minister, I want to make sure I can do that through as many different streams as possible. There are a lot of different organisations across different counties and we want all of them to benefit.

On behalf of Deputy McGuinness, I ask the Minister to explain, following her announcement that she will give €65 million in minor works and ICT funding for schools, the rationale for providing the same minor works grant to all schools when older buildings need increased funds to be maintained and whether older schools buildings will receive increased minor works funding.

As part of the Government’s ongoing commitment to supporting schools, I recently announced €65 million in minor works and ICT grants. This funding provides schools with flexibility to address small-scale infrastructure improvements and to invest in IT equipment and digital infrastructure.

The minor works grant is provided on a standard flat rate plus a per capita basis. This provides the most straightforward and consistent basis for provision of the grant funding to all eligible schools. This approach allows schools to plan and carry out essential maintenance and improvement works, based on their own identified priorities.

I recognise that some schools, particularly those in older buildings, may face more significant maintenance challenges. My Department is currently carrying out a national energy and condition survey of all schools. This is due for completion in 2026. The subsequent analysis of this data will help determine priorities going forward, including any potential future refinements to the minor works grant regime and provide a strengthened evidence base for an effective prioritisation of capital investment. This will form part of broader planning by my Department of capital investment in schools for the period 2026-30 in line with prioritised needs and reflecting, as appropriate, wider Government priorities, informed by NDP allocations once they are known.

In the interim, schools can engage with my Department through the relevant application-based capital schemes. I recently announced a new climate action summer works scheme and the application process for this scheme is currently open for all schools, with a closing date for receipt of applications of 30 June. I would say to schools if they are looking to apply to get it in by 30 June. The emergency works scheme also remains available as required to address very urgent issues.

A review is happening which will give a really good sense of the state our school buildings are in. We committed to a minor works grant in the programme for Government. If we can change, adapt or amend it so that the schools which need more funding through that grant get it, we will be able to do that once we have that information. However, it will be next year before we have all that information.

There was very significant disappointment, which I raised in a Topical Issue with the Minister of State, Deputy Moynihan, on the day of the announcement that the overall funding for the ICT and minor works grants were down from €79 million last year to €65 million this year. All that related to the ICT funding. All this fits into the wider piece of funding for schools. There is a real issue around the increasing costs and the flatline of the overall capitation in particular. This morning the CPSMA said that in the last five years running costs have increased in the region of 70% but capitation funding is at 2008 levels. It has had unprecedented numbers of calls from schools in financial difficulty. This is a major concern. Yesterday, the INTO’s pre-budget submission had an ask of an additional €75 per child in capitation funding.

To clarify on ICT, we gave a commitment as part of the overall strategy that we would provide €200 million to schools over the lifetime of the strategy. What had been provided to date was two amounts of €50 million but they were not exactly every year so they were spaced out. I want to make sure that every year schools get the grant, that they know they are getting it and how much. The €35 million is for this year. I want to make sure there is a further €35 million next year and the following year. Schools are telling me that they want to know they are getting it and how much they are getting. It is not a reduction and I want to make that clear to schools. The intention is very much that it be the same next year as opposed to the end of next year or into the year after.

I appreciate that schools are under pressure and that there are challenges for schools with increased costs as there are with any businesses, homes or any other body or organisation. That is why there have been increases in the budget in the last number of years. The capitation that was announced in the last week for the upcoming September has meant it has gone from €200 to €224 per student. I appreciate that is not what people are looking for and they want more. It is very much my intention, as set out in the programme for Government, to increase that even further in the upcoming budget negotiations. Obviously that has to be worked through.

It is absolutely needed. This morning the CPSMA outlined results of its survey with an increase in insurance costs of one third, an increase in utility costs of 50%, an increase in cleaning costs of in excess of 80%. It is also clear the funding proposed for this year’s budget will not match the increasing costs that schools face. There is an ask for a comprehensive assessment. I welcome the piece on energy costs but the same is needed for the overall running costs of schools. There is an ask from the CPSMA, and others I am sure, for an assessment of the real life running costs of schools. They argue that the supports being provided by the Government do not match those costs. The real impacts are on the school communities which cannot go to the pockets of their parents. That has a real impact on educational disadvantage for those disadvantaged communities.

I want to stress that the Department is there and available to engage with schools. While we have seen an increase in the number of people coming to the FSSU it is not to the level that we are hearing more broadly. I encourage schools which may be in difficulty and have a challenging time ahead with their finances to engage with the Department.

The DEIS grants and status mean that students and schools get an increased rate for various things and increased supports but I appreciate that is often not enough. The commitment in the programme for Government is very clear. We will continue to increase capitation. In this month alone, the level for primary school will increase to €224 and will also increase for post-primary students to €386. That is an increase in primary alone of €30 million in the last year. My intention is to make sure in the years ahead we continue to increase that capitation. We also need to find ways in which we can save money for schools. For the 28 schools announced this week where over €80 million will be spent on retrofitting, that will help reduce their overall energy costs. That is why it is really important. The summer works scheme is focusing solely on environment and climate because that helps bring down the bills. We need to support schools in looking at insurance and other costs. That is something I am looking at currently.

The DEIS programme is a key policy of the Department to tackle concentrated educational disadvantage at school level. The Tusla education support service, TESS, is under the remit of my Department and has three strands: the statutory Educational Welfare Service, EWS, the home school community liaison scheme and the school completion programme. These all work extremely well and support a huge number of students every year.

The scheme is an important support under DEIS, promoting partnership between parents, teachers and community family support services. All DEIS urban primary and all DEIS post-primary schools are included in the scheme. It is delivered by 528 full-time home school liaison co-ordinators, who are teachers in these schools and assigned to these duties either in individual schools or in clusters of schools. None of those 528 posts are currently vacant. The primary role of the EWS is to ensure that every child either attends school regularly or otherwise receives a certain minimum education. Educational welfare officers are based throughout the country and work with children, young people and their families who are experiencing difficulty with school attendance. The main priority of the work is around the educational welfare of children and to ensure that concerns around attendance are addressed before attendance becomes a crisis issue. Currently there are 153 EWOs operating across the six Tusla regions, including 23 EWOs who provide services to the most vulnerable children, such as children in care, and five temporary EWO posts allocated to trial innovative approaches to supporting attendance. I have met them. They are people who literally go out and stand outside children’s bedroom doors to make sure they are supported to come in to school. They do really excellent work.

A national EWO recruitment campaign took place in February 2025 from which all vacant EWO posts are currently being filled. All of the posts are filled or being filled. The funding is there and we need to make sure they are in place where they are not as soon as possible.

Any increases to overall capacity will be considered in the context of the budgetary process in my Department. We have spoken a lot about the DEIS programme and a new DEIS plan. This is about making sure we keep what we have that works well. I cannot commend enough the work of the home school liaison co-ordinators, teams and the educational welfare officers. What we need is more of them and that is very much my intention.

To conclude on that point in the interests of time, I agree entirely with the Minister that is where the focus needs to be. We talk about school completion and absenteeism. The work done by home school liaison officers and educational welfare officers is incredibly important and life changing for individuals and families. It is about breaking the cycle. The Minister will have the absolute and full support of this side of the House if there is an opportunity to expand those services and supports for children because they make such a difference.