Special Educational Needs
Dail Éireann — 2025-12-16
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Mark Wall (LAB), Kildare South

I thank the Minister of State for her comprehensive reply. We can both agree about the importance of allowing children to attend their local national school where possible. This is why I raised the needs of Scoil Bhríde in Lackagh tonight. This is a rural school that, unfortunately, has seen something of a decline in numbers but has a need for a special unit. All of us in this Chamber have spoken for a long period of time about the importance of keeping rural schools open. If we can publish that Scoil Bhríde has this unit, I have no doubt we will see the 30 children the school has increase. My office is inundated, as are I am sure the Minister of State's office and those of all Deputies, with parents looking for that special school place or that special school. The reason why it is so important that we keep children in their local school is because many of them are getting into a taxi early in the morning - 7 a.m. in some cases - and travelling 30 or 40 miles to get that special school place. I have spoken in this House previously about one parent who has had to ring over 40 different schools to get that school place. That is quite common in County Kildare given the demand for school places. Here we have a perfectly good school that has a great reputation. It is a rural school that has the accommodation and, most importantly, a staff member who can come into this unit straightaway in September 2026. I ask the Minister of State to bring this matter back. She has heard the testimonials tonight from parents. The school needs that ASD unit. It needs it for the children who need the unit and it needs it for the school community. It will develop as a school. It is an absolutely brilliant school. If we are serious about treating all children equally, we must give children the opportunity to take part in their own local school and as the parents have said to me, have pride in their local school uniform.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2025-12-16/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:54:28+00:00
Sitting date: 2025-12-16