I thank the Deputy for pointing that out. There is a special education review committee that deals with the resourcing of special classes with teachers and SNAs. Allocations are determined under those terms. When we talk about special classes, we know there should be two SNAs and one teacher per special class, if there are only six children in the class. That should be the number. If there is a difficulty with adhering to that, I suggest that the school in question should get in contact with either the NCSE or the …

I should have said at the outset that separately from and in addition to the HSE supports for speech and language therapy, we are operating a demonstration project around the school inclusion model. That project was approved by Government in February 2019 and began operating in community healthcare organisation, CHO, 7, encompassing Dublin, Kildare and west Wicklow. It was disrupted because of Covid but it will be a transformative model for children with special needs into the future. Under this model, pupils will …

I thank the Senator for raising this important matter. It is important to say that enabling children with special educational needs to receive an education appropriate to their needs is a priority for this Government and for me as the first ever Minister of State with responsibility for special educational needs. As the Senator will know, this year, in excess of 20% of the total education budget, or €2 billion, will be invested in supporting children with special educational needs. As a result, the numbers of speci…

The Senator may be aware that I have met Autism Equality Dublin Bay, Involve Autism and AsIAm. I commend them on the work they do in this regard. It is important I hear from parents and families on the ground. One of the things I have tried to do since assuming my role has been to take the sting out of trying to find a place in a special class or special school. City Quay National School and Star of the Sea Boys National School will be opening in the areas the Senator mentioned, as will St. Christopher's, Shellyban…

On behalf of the Minister for Justice I wish to thank the Senator for raising this matter. The Senator will be aware that the community-based CCTV is currently governed by section 38(3)(c) of the Garda Síochána Act 2005 and the Garda Síochána (CCTV) Order 2006, which is SI 289 of 2006. This legal framework requires that any proposed community CCTV scheme must, first, be approved by the local joint policing committee, second, have the prior support of the relevant local authority, which must also act as data control…

I will bring the matters the Senator has raised, particularly his comments on a more expeditious application process, to the attention of the Minister for Justice. I note what he said about the 70% of crimes being prevented, or certainly their prevention being assisted, by the use of CCTV. I also note what he said about the fact that €1 million was allocated and that only €750,000 has been approved. I cannot confirm here whether or not all those comments are correct but I will bring that information back to the Min…

I thank Senator Ward for raising this matter. I am happy to clarify the position with regard to the development of permanent accommodation for Gaelscoil Laighean. As a result of the nationwide demographic exercise carried out by the Department into the future need for primary and post-primary schools in the State, the requirement for a new eight-classroom primary school to service the Blackrock-Booterstown area was announced by the Government. Gaelscoil Laighean was established, as the Senator correctly pointed out…

I thank the Senator for raising this issue. As I said at the outset, a number of site options for a permanent location are being explored. He will understand that there are technical, complex issues around that. I hear what he said about the absence of play facilities in the area and that Dún Laoghaire is not in the catchment area. I also note his argument about the dilapidation and the fact he was involved in the plebiscite from the very beginning. I obviously cannot confirm or deny any rumours regarding a particu…

I thank the Senator for raising this issue, which gives me an opportunity to update her and the House on the current position in respect of the issues affecting Duleek Boys National School and Duleek Girls National School since their building project was completed in 2015. Since then the school authorities in question have identified a number of issues with the completed works that have been a cause of concern, some of which have been mentioned by the Senator. The National Development Finance Agency, on behalf of a…

I wish Fr. Conlon well. As the Senator said, Duleek's loss is Drogheda's gain. I also wish Fr. Ferris, Fr. Kelly, Fr. Lynch and Fr. Brennan the best of success in the future in all their endeavours. To conclude on the matter of Duleek school, I heard the Senator's list of further complaints, for example, the partition not being installed correctly, the building management system not working and, according to her, the blocking of the heating system. She also mentioned puddles of water on the floors, which I am not s…

Táim buíoch as an deis labhairt anocht faoin dul chun cinn atá déanta againn le déanaí. This week marks the final days of national autism awareness month. It is appropriate that we take stock of the progress that has been made and the work that still has to be done. Having listened to the sincere views of Members this evening, I believe we are all committed to ensuring the rights of all children are fully vindicated. We know that education is a right for our children. The right of autistic children to access educat…

I thank the Senator for raising this issue. DEIS is the main policy initiative of my Department to tackle educational disadvantage at any level. The DEIS plan sets out the vision for interventions in the critical area of educational disadvantage policy and is based on the findings of an extensive review of the programme, which involved consultation with all relevant stakeholders. The programme for Government commits to completing the new DEIS identification model and ensuring the extension of status to schools iden…

I thank the Senator. I understand her concerns in the context of supports. It is important to stress that there is a range of resources available from the Department to support schools in dealing with their needs. Those are schools outside of DEIS and they can still avail of supports including special education resource teachers, special needs assistants, SNAs, and supports from the National Educational Psychological Service also. With regard to hot school meals, I will bring that to the attention of the Minister f…

I thank Senator Dooley for asking this question pertaining to Clooney National School. 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 indeed the pupil enrolment on the previous 30 September. The previous budgets of 2016 and 2018 improved the staffing schedule by one point on both occasions to its historically lowest level ever of one teacher to 26 pupils. Budget 2021 has implemented a further one-point redu…

One of the difficulties is that all schools have to be treated the same, otherwise there would be inequity in the system and it would disadvantage all other schools of a similar size which have lost teachers in recent years. It is an important feature of the staffing schedule that all schools are treated equally and fairly. The primary staffing appeals board operates independently of the Department and its decision is final. I will raise the Senator's concerns with the Minister, Deputy Foley. This school is only sh…

The planning and delivery of social and affordable housing at a local level is led by the relevant local authority. The Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage has made record funding available to support the delivery of social and affordable housing by local authorities. Thanks to budget 2021, total funding provision of €3.3 billion was secured by the Minister for delivery of housing programmes. As for affordable housing in particular, a total of €50 million will be made available to local authorities…

I know the Senator has concerns about the master plan for St. Waleran's. As I said, it will be completed in two months. It has taken quite a significant amount of time, but it is good news that it will be completed in two months' time. Ramsfort Park will take until the middle of 2022 because of Covid. Funding of €4.8 million for a 20-unit social housing project at St. Joseph's has been approved in principle. It is important to bear in mind that €3.3 billion has been allocated for delivery of housing programmes this…

I thank the Senator for her very important contribution regarding this matter. Danu Community Special School was established, as she said, in September 2019 in Dublin 15. There is a large volume of work still to be done, but I think she will accept that from her initial meeting with the parents in 2018 there has been substantial progress. It was necessary progress and, as I said, there is still more to do. The Senator correctly pointed out that Danu was under the patronage of DDLETB and was originally to cater for …

I assure the Senator I will bring her comments to the attention of the Minister, Deputy Foley, and the Department. I will set out the work we have done in regard to special education. It is a priority for this Government and we are putting in the investment to ensure supports and school places are there for every single child. We are spending over €2 billion on special education this year. I have already announced the opening of two new special schools for next September. We have an additional 1,000 special needs a…

I am happy to address the specific concerns raised by Senator Pauline O'Reilly about the Department of Education, in which I am a Minister of State. The Department is not aware of any instance of inappropriate sharing of information, nor does it take lightly any decision to defend cases concerning children with special educational needs and the rights of the child to an appropriate education under the Constitution. The needs of the child and a desire to act in the child's best interests are always to the fore in th…