I assure the Deputy we will be building on the two pilots I have mentioned for secondary schools, taking lessons and experience from them, and starting a pilot for the next school year, 2026-27, with the hope and ambition to roll it out further. We need to make sure we have the ability to share as much data as possible so all of our school systems are updated and all the schools in a particular area are involved and part of the overall pilot. This work is under way. With regard to Danu Community Special School in p…

I am aware of this issue because it has been raised previously, including by the Deputy. The information we have in the Department very clearly shows approximately 1,000 pupils move outside Dublin 15 on a daily basis to go to schools in the surrounding areas. This is obviously putting pressure on those schools. The view is the development of the new school, which I know is temporarily placed elsewhere, and moving it back into the Mulhuddart and Tyrrelstown area where the problem is most acute will resolve many of t…

I thank Deputy Boland for raising this question. I acknowledge that she has prioritised this with me and wants to ensure that every child, parent and teacher in her constituency has the resources, supports and indeed the appropriate school buildings he or she requires in the years ahead. I am absolutely committed to working with her and all of the schools in that regard. My role in this Department, working with the building unit, is to make sure it has the resources it needs and that it then supports and works with…

If the Deputies want to send on individual projects, I can follow up to see at what stages they are. It is important to stress that there is record investment going into school buildings. We have 3,000 primary schools and 700 post-primary schools. The priority and focus always has to be to make sure, where additional accommodation is required, that we do this first, if an extension is required. I fully accept that some schools are decades old and need to be refurbished but we need to make sure that the steady pipel…

I would be happy to see some of these schools with the Deputy. She touched on the importance of not forgetting that the more we invest in schools now, the less they will need later on. New summer works and a climate programme have been announced and will be rolled out. It is important to make sure we are investing in changes to the buildings themselves that will provide efficiencies but that will also make sure that the maintenance is kept up. I hope to be able to announce the minor works grant scheme as well. This…

I look forward to working with the Deputy on this project and many others. As she knows, the Department approved the additional school accommodation project for St. Brigids School Cabinteely. The project is devolved for delivery to the school authority and a design team has been appointed to progress the project through the necessary architectural stages of design, statutory approvals, procurement and construction. The project was initially approved to provide ten mainstream classrooms and three special education t…

There are often different reasons projects are delayed. It is not always the fault of the Department but there are often design, planning or funding issues. It is important to make sure that funding is managed throughout the year. There are only so many projects that can be progressed at a certain time. The focus and priority is always where additional accommodation is needed. More than 100,000 places have been brought onstream over the past number of years alone where extensions or refurbishment were needed, in pa…

-----it sets out timelines for the different stages and how long they should take.

We could look at putting a system in place on the engagement that would then take place with schools when they go beyond the timeline.

This is a commonly occurring theme. I am sorry.

Insofar as possible, where there are new builds or where schools have to be moved, the Department always attempts to keep some of the play space and to make sure it is not completely taken. The Department also ensures play areas are part and parcel of the development of new builds, be it PE halls inside the school or covered areas for children to be able to use in bad weather or if they do not have outdoor space. It is always a priority to make sure a play space is provided when new schools are developed or when sc…

I thank the Deputy for raising this question. Reform of the leaving certificate senior cycle is the right thing to do. This is something that will benefit students. Nobody I have spoken to, including those who have concerns or who requested that this be delayed, has said we should not progress this, because everybody acknowledges it is the right thing to do. That is why I am committed to ensuring this is delivered and that we start this process next September. There is considerable momentum in the programme of work…

There is much more in train, which I will outline. A significant amount of work is already under way in that regard.

This is not accelerated. This is something that was committed to ten years ago and it has taken until now to get to the point where it is going to start in September. Given the momentum I have mentioned, it is important we make sure it starts but that we support teachers, unions and students in making sure it happens in the best way possible and that students benefit from it. A number of things have been done such as training, money for science labs, the State Examinations Commission publishing the sample papers to…

-----they use it in the most appropriate way, and that they learn as well when they are using it.

I am absolutely committed to working with teachers and their unions to ensure we get this right. Today, following weeks of engagement with all the unions, I invited the ASTI and the TUI to engage intensively to see what more I can do to support them. Everything I outlined here, from the training and funding that is being provided, the papers that have been outlined, the further training that will be provided, the guidance that will be given around AI and what I am doing now in engaging with them further, I hope ext…

I thank the Deputy. While the provision of clinical therapy supports to children is the responsibility of the HSE, it is the Government’s ambition to make sure therapies are provided in schools. This was committed to in the programme for Government and it is to build on the work being done through the Department of Education, with a number of teams already in place within our schools through the education therapy support service, ETSS, working in conjunction with the National Council for Special Education, NCSE. At…

While I cannot give the Deputy a timeline for the doubling of places, I know it is being worked on directly by the Ministers, Deputies Lawless and Carroll MacNeill. The more quickly it can happen, the more quickly we can fill our places overall. The change on qualifications is work that has just started, so the focus and priority have been on outlining what the therapy service will look like and how we can progress it as soon as possible. The Deputy is correct that we can provide school places for young people, but…

This is about building capacity and the thing that has come to me most in recent weeks, when engaging with parents and children about what they want, is that they want the place that is most appropriate for them, although that can be different for every young person and student. It might be a special school, a special classroom in a mainstream school or a mainstream place with additional supports. In rolling out the therapies, while we have given a commitment to starting with special schools because that is where t…

I thank the Deputy for raising the matter. The school transport 2030 report, which was published in early 2024, marks the largest review of the school transport scheme since it was established in 1967. We are committed to working to achieve the report’s recommendations of expanding access to the scheme in order that an additional 100,000 pupils can be carried by 2030 and to continue to improve the scheme in order that it provides a valuable service for those families who rely on it while providing value for money t…