I hear the Deputy's concern and his genuine compassion for the people on whose behalf he is speaking. It is important to stress the issues involved are highly sensitive and complex and therefore require careful deliberation before any proposals can be finalised or brought to the Government. It is important to have a complete awareness and understanding of the extent of the issues that are arising, the number of people who could potentially be involved, the legal implications of any course of action, and an accurate…

I thank Senator Boyhan for raising this matter, which I am taking on behalf of my colleague, the Minister of State at the Department of Transport, Deputy Naughton. We can both agree that the abuse of disabled parking spaces by other motorists is selfish, anti-social and, as the Senator mentioned, anti-equality. It can cause grave disruption for those for whom the spaces were installed in the first instance. As the Senator will be aware, the disabled parking permit is available to people living in Ireland with a per…

I will convey the Senator's disappointment and remarks to the Minister of State at the Department of Transport, Deputy Naughton. The Department of Transport is of the view that the penalty is fair, proportionate and sufficiently high enough to deter drivers from engaging in this kind of behaviour. Senator Boyhan talked about Operation Enable, which is a multi-agency initiative. I understand there is a significant incidence of permit fraud with counterfeit and stolen permits being used and permits being borrowed or …

I thank the Senator for raising this important issue. She will be aware of the national Action Plan on Bullying published in 2013, which was a number of years ago, as she said. We are all aware that bullying is a very complex and difficult issue that can occur in many different settings, including the home, the wider family and social groups and during sporting and youth club activities. I note what the Senator said about the different forms of bullying. It is not just specific to physical bullying but can take man…

I note what the Senator has said about restorative justice. It is something in which I believe, even in the criminal justice system and its application to prisoners. In the bullying area, it is definitely worth considering. I will bring that suggestion back to the Minister, Deputy Foley. Extra NEPS psychologists have been provided for in the budget for this year. We were acutely aware, in particular during Covid, of how difficult it has been for children. It is important that we have adequate resources and psycholo…

I hope to put this matter into context for the Senator. As she will be aware, enabling children with special educational needs to receive an education appropriate to their needs is a priority for the Government. The principle of inclusive education is set out in the Education for Persons with Special Educational Needs Act 2004 and embedded in the Department's policy for supporting children with special educational needs, including those with reading difficulties. The Act provides that a child with special education…

As Senator Currie outlined earlier, the school deserves an answer as people’s hopes were raised. I hope I have set out an adequate answer for them. Obviously, I cannot speak on behalf of the NCSE, but I can certainly communicate what happened. What happened was an operational error and I understand the school has been informed about that. I am satisfied that the 13,600 SETs we have should be supporting literacy needs and teaching within the school environment. What I have said specifically in relation to St. Franci…

As the Senator correctly pointed out, €2 billion, almost 25% of the total education budget, is going into special education this year. Budget 2021 provided for an additional 900 SNAs who are vital to the smooth running of the schools for children with additional needs. An unprecedented 18,000 will be in place by the year's end. They play a critical role in supporting children with additional needs, many of whom would not otherwise be able to attend school or participate in any school activities. Children often have…

As I mentioned, part of the consideration of the review will include accreditation and no doubt the retrospective element will be considered as well. I am satisfied that the new training programme now in place is of very high quality. It will help the experience of our children with special needs in our schools. The Senator mentioned Newbridge and St. Conleth and Mary's Primary School and the Holy Family Secondary School in relation to ASD classes. As Minister of State with responsibility for special education, I h…

I thank Senator Wall. It is important to set out the context around the consideration of additional secondary school places, not just in Kildare but throughout the country. To plan for school provision and to analyse the relevant demographic data, the Department, as the Senator may already be aware, divides the country into 314 school planning areas. It uses a geographical information system, using data from a range of sources, including child benefit and school enrolment data, to identify where the pressure for sc…

I thank the Senator and I understand his concerns around clarity for students who wish to attend school, whether it is a primary or a post-primary school. The instructions I have from the Department specifically on the school mentioned by the Senator are that the negotiations are at an advanced stage on the site acquisition. I will obviously bring his views back to the senior Minister, Deputy Foley. Furthermore, St. Conleth's Community College has agreed to an additional first year class and the patron has agreed t…

This is a matter under the remit of the Minister, Deputy Foley, but I am happy to outline the work going on. On the large-scale capital building programme, 135 school building projects are ongoing which are at or have completed design stage. These include: Gaelscoil Mhíchíl Cíosóg; Gaelscoil Donncha Rua; Gaelscoil Uí Choimín; Ennis Educate Together National School; Ennistymon National School; Raheen Wood Steiner school; and Mol an Óige Community National School in Clare. There are also in excess of 1,000 school bui…

I have no doubt the comments of the Senator will be brought to the attention of the Department, and I will certainly bring them to the attention of the Minister, Deputy Foley, who is in charge of the building planning unit. There is merit in much of what the Senator said. I have noted her comments on school ventilation, although it is just one of a number of prevention and control measures that are in place to ensure that schools are safe. I accept what she said earlier about having the heating turned on and the wi…

I thank Deputies for their statements on this issue. I would like to restate the Government’s deep concern at the intensification of violence in Gaza, the West Bank and Israel over the past week. We are all in agreement that now is the time for de-escalation and we must encourage all efforts to reach a ceasefire. We cannot ignore the fact that these events are terrifying for Palestinian and Israeli civilians. The number of child casualties, over a quarter of all fatalities, is particularly shocking. The protection …

I thank the Senator for raising this matter. To put this issue in context, in order to plan for school provision and analyse the relevant demographic data, the Department divides the country into 314 school planning areas and uses a geographical information system, with data from a range of sources, to identify where the pressure for school places across the country will arise. Due to an increase in demand for primary school places in the Diswellstown area, which the Senator mentioned, enrolments for St. Patrick’s …

I completely agree with the Senator. This issue needs to be expedited, particularly if it has been going on since 2019. However, the Senator will appreciate that the negotiations do not involve just one party. Discussions are ongoing with Fingal County Council as well as with the landowner and these preconditions need to be teased out and deliberated upon. We need to see if commonalities can be found in order to continue and progress with the site acquisition. I note what the Senator said about a new prefab. There …

I thank the Deputy for this question. It gives me an opportunity to respond on what we are doing with the expanded summer education programme for people with complex special education needs and those at greatest risk of educational disadvantage, as a Covid-19 pandemic response measure for summer 2021. This is an incredibly important Government decision which ensures for the first time that all primary and post-primary schools have the opportunity to provide summer programmes for children with complex needs and thos…

I reassure the Deputy that guidance has been given to schools in relation to this programme, particularly for the supervision of final year students, which was a key component of our interactions with schools. One of the things we wanted to make sure of this year was to remove any impediments schools felt existed to their participation. Last year, 804 schools were able to apply to provide summer provision, comprising 124 special schools and 680 primary schools. This year, there are 4,000 schools, so every single sc…

All of these issues have been raised with the schools and dealt with by the Department. The level of investment has doubled from last year. Teachers and SNAs working on the programme will receive an additional weeks' pay for each week of the programme. If these staff have existing full-time contracts of employment with their school already paid during the summer, the summer programme payment will be additional on top of that. It is intended the rate of pay for school-based staff will be based on their personal rate…

I thank the Deputy for his question. In budget 2021, as he knows, we secured an unprecedented investment of €2 billion dedicated to the provision of special education, which is one fifth of the entire education budget. Included in that was provision for approximately 235 speech and language therapy teachers. In addition, we got an extra 1,000 special needs assistants, SNAs, which takes us to an unprecedented total of 18,000 SNAs in the education system. SNAs are critical in assisting children in mainstream classes …