In response to Deputy Durkan, the forecasting model, particularly in the context of special education, is critical. Indeed, for all children, not just those with additional needs, that geographical information system is important in the planning and building unit. It is important there is capacity there, that we know current demand and can anticipate future demand when planning for schools. We must now take into account Ukrainian children, but we do not know, as yet, how many we are going to have in the future. Dep…

I thank the Deputy very much for his question. My understanding is that the Minister for Education, Deputy Foley, had a meeting with the Minister of State, Deputy English, and Senator Cassells this week, and the project will be going to tender this week. I hope that is of importance to the Deputy.

The Deputy spoke for four minutes and 23 seconds. She is correct that this is a very important topic and I am delighted the Ceann Comhairle selected it for discussion. I want to reiterate the importance and aims of the summer provision. It builds confidence in children, supports pupils to re-engage with education, increases their motivation and promotes well-being. For children at key transition stages, it helps to ensure they can move on to planned educational placements along with their peers in the coming Septem…

I have another 14 seconds.

There is enhanced funding for special schools in recognition of the complexity of their needs. They enrol the children with the most complex needs.

Thankfully, we are not back in the 1990s, and significant work has been done since then on this, together with the supplementary Covid learning and support scheme. I totally agree with the Deputy and am ad idem with her on one thing, which is that the families really need this service and need respite for their children to bring them on. We gave some of this information to the Ombudsman for Children as well. Some children with autism, for example, in special schools and special classes are no longer in those classe…

I am taking this Commencement matter on behalf of the Minister of State, Deputy O'Donovan. The OPW employs approximately 2,500 staff across a wide range of craft, technical, administrative and management disciplines, and all OPW staff have essential roles to play that bring great value to those availing of OPW services across a number of work programmes. The OPW manages in excess of 2,400 properties on behalf of the State through the estate management programme, which includes some of Ireland's most significant her…

I assure the Senator that the OPW strives to value its staff equally, regardless of their grade or recruitment methodology, primarily through ongoing communication and engagement. While there are many different grades and classifications of employees, the OPW will continue to work hard to minimise the impact of the historical differences in terms and conditions that apply between various employment categories through engagement mechanisms such as the partnership and joint industrial council in order that the organi…

I note the Senator's particular interest in the area of special education in general. We were very pleased to announce this programme yesterday. There is a new package for the summer programme for this year. We have matched the funding from last year of €40 million for children with additional needs. It will also help Ukrainian children in terms of the inclusion programme. First, there is the inclusion programme in primary school. It is a two-week to three-week programme for mainstream pupils with complex needs and…

Around the Ukrainian children, I want to mention that, for this year, schools will be supporting children to be included in the inclusion programmes. They are very focused on the individual needs of children as schools identify them. Language tuition will be offered to these children. The 16 ETBs are organising the English as a second language panels, which will assist these children. It will be of great assistance to Ukrainian children coming into this jurisdiction over the next number of months and, indeed, to ch…

I thank the Senator for his important question. I am happy to respond on behalf of the Minister for Defence, Deputy Coveney. The priority for the Minister for Defence is to ensure that the operational capability of the Army, Air Corps and Naval Service is maintained and developed to enable the Defence Forces to carry out their roles as assigned by the Government, including overseas deployments. The White Paper on Defence of 2015 set out an ambitious programme of capital investment for the Naval Service, including f…

The Senator is correct in saying that we need to treat this as a priority, and the Minister for Defence, Deputy Coveney, is doing so. He very much welcomes the open discussion and debate around whether we can defend our sovereignty. That is the pertinent question that needs to be teased out. The Irish people need to be reassured we have adequate defence mechanisms. The Senator mentioned the prospect of Russia invading our space, so to speak, and the British Royal Air Force having to come into our waters. He also sp…

I thank Senator Dolan for raising the matter, which she raised previously. It is a major building project that is planned for Scoil an Chroí Naofa, and there is also the major building project for St Teresa's Special School. I will deal with Scoil an Chroí Naofa first. As the Senator is aware, it is included in the Department's construction programme, which is being delivered under the national development plan. The brief is to provide for the demolition of the existing school building and the construction of a new…

To clarify, in terms of St. Teresa's Special School, once a design team has been appointed the project can commence stage 1 of architectural planning which is the preliminary design stage. As I said I am doing all I can to make sure that is expedited because they are children with additional needs. I know the school, the incredible team and staff there and indeed the children. It was wonderful to hear about their St. Patrick's Day festival. I hope that will be expedited as soon as possible. In regard to Scoil an Ch…

I thank the Deputy for giving me the opportunity to outline the position regarding staffing in primary schools. I am happy to take this matter on behalf of the Minister. The key factor for determining the level of staffing resources provided at individual school level is the staffing schedule for the relevant school year and pupil enrolments on the previous 30 September. The staffing schedule is an allocation mechanism that uses enrolment bands to determine the number of classroom teaching posts allocated to a scho…

I can get one to the Leas-Cheann Comhairle.

First of all, the key word in relation to this particular school is “temporary”. The extra staff member that was given was only ever on the basis that it was a temporary measure. It was never meant to be permanent. It was very strictly and categorically told to the school that it would be in a position to retain this staff member only if it actually had the projected number of children, which it then transpired it did not. The Deputy made some points, not without merit, and some of them particularly around the pand…

I want to take this opportunity to congratulate the new graduates of the SNA programme in UCD. This programme of training was advised by the National Council for Special Education, NCSE, in 2018. Some 3,500 students will take that course over the next three years. To get back to the Deputy’s specific question on SNAs in general, we have increased the number of SNAs by 81% since 2011. We can all agree that that is a significant increase on what was originally there. That is not to deny that schools will occasionally…

Work is under way in respect of the new allocations for schools and they will issue as soon as possible. There will be consultation with stakeholders in advance. It is primarily the job of the NCSE to assess each school and its allocation. It is up to each school to allocate its SNAs as it sees fit. For mainstream classes, as I said, no diagnosis is required. The criteria for the front-loading allocation are clear. There is a baseline number of enrolments and account is taken of the number of children with complex …

I assure the Deputy that the Minister and I take the role of SNAs very seriously. SNAs are valued greatly for the assistance they give to children with additional needs who, quite simply, would not be in a position to function in any real way in classes without them. The SNA's role to increase the independent living skills of children with additional needs is to be commended and admired. In regard to the course in UCD, as I have always said, we want to examine and evaluate the outcomes. The first step is to get tra…