Ceisteanna ó na Comhaltaí Eile - Other Members’ Questions Dail Éireann — 2026-05-13 ============================================================ Brendan Smith (FF), Cavan-Monaghan I thank the Taoiseach for his reply. I previously mentioned to the Taoiseach the case of Cavan No. 1 National School in Cavan town, which is under the patronage of the Church of Ireland and which has done exceptional work in providing a top-quality education for children from different denominations and of different nationalities. Inclusion is at the very heart of all activities in the school, and the work of the principal, Sabrina Richardson, her staff colleagues and the board of management is to be strongly commended. The principal has outlined in great detail to the NCSE and the Department of education the urgent need the school has for a special class. This school has also been waiting far too long for approval from the Department for basic improvement works which are urgently needed. I ask the Taoiseach to use his good offices to request that Department give urgent consideration to issuing approval in respect of the school's applications for the establishment of a special class and for the emergency works. The Taoiseach may recall in 2011 or 2012, he along, Michael Moynihan, myself and others campaigned very strongly against the proposal by the then Minister for education to change the pupil-teacher ratio, which would have----- --- Source: Houses of the Oireachtas. Licensed under CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). The Official Report is revised after first publication; the fetch timestamp below identifies the version quoted. Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2026-05-13/debate/main Retrieved: 2026-09-14T01:01:03+00:00 Sitting date: 2026-05-13