I assure the Senator that, as the first dedicated Minister of State with responsibility for special education, I am doing everything I can to ensure the rights and best interests of children with special needs are at the forefront of everything we do. The unprecedented funding of €2 billion is an acknowledgement of that. My list of action priorities includes a review of the Education for Persons with Special Educational Needs Act. That review will take into account not only the reforms in recent times but also all …

I thank Senator Boyhan for raising this matter. I understand that the Senator is referring to one of a number of recommendations made by the INTO in a recent submission to the Joint Committee on Education, Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science in respect of the committee's examination of school bullying and its impact on mental health. I echo the Senator's sentiments on the Trojan work the INTO has done on reopening schools in a Covid environment. I acknowledge the work Ms Mary Magner and t…

It is important to say, as the Senator mentioned, that it is not just with regard to children being bullied. It is something we want to stamp out. The Senator mentioned black children, Traveller children, those in direct provision and other marginalised areas of society. He also mentioned children with special educational needs which is under my remit as well, and cyberbullying, which is a component we were not dealing with perhaps to the same extent in 2013 as we are at present, and that needs to be looked at. The…

I thank Senator Bacik for raising this matter. I hope to outline to her satisfaction the current position on the provision of a permanent school building for Harold's Cross Educate Together Secondary School. It is, as the Senator said, a co-educational second level school which will provide 1,000 post-primary school places and a four-classroom special educational needs unit to serve the Dublin 6 Clonskeagh and Dublin 6W school planning areas as a regional solution. As the Senator also said, the school opened its do…

I should say that as with all school building projects, the exact timeframe for the delivery of permanent accommodation will be dependent on securing the grant of planning permission and until the planning permission is secured, it would be premature to estimate the timeframe for the tender and construction of the two schools. However, once planning permission is secured, the project for both schools will then be progressed for tender and construction stages, and the management authorities of the two schools will b…

I thank the Senator for raising this matter. I hope to be able to clarify the current position regarding Sacred Heart Secondary School in Clonakilty, which is an all-girls school under the patronage of Catholic Education, an Irish Schools Trust, CEIST. The enrolment at the school in September 2020 was 524 pupils and the school has a staffing of nearly 40 whole-time equivalent teachers. As the Senator is aware, Sacred Heart Secondary School is included in the Department's capital programme being delivered as part of…

I thank the Senator for his comments. I know what he is saying about the school being there since 1941. It is a badly needed development. I also note his remarks about the project manager who was in place in August 2019. I believe, however, I have given him some positives in my contribution today in terms of trying to move towards that architectural planning process which, as he said, is the key in this regard to. The fact that an agreement has been reached with Catholic Education An Irish Schools' Trust regarding …

I thank the Deputy for raising this matter as it gives me the opportunity to outline for the House the position with regard to post-primary school development in east Cork. To plan for school provision and to analyse the relevant demographic data, the Department divides the country into 314 school planning areas and uses a geographic information system, GIS. The GIS uses data from a range of sources, including child benefit data from the Department of Social Protection and the Department's school enrolment database…

I thank the Deputy for raising his concerns on the matter. Obviously, it is critical from the perspective of the Department and of the Minister, Deputy Foley, that we do not just provide school places for the existing school-going children but also forward plan into the future as the Deputy correctly stated in his contribution. That is why the mechanisms by which we do our forward planning are used by the Department. For example, I mentioned the GIS earlier for the 314 school planning areas and that needs to be don…

I welcome the opportunity to speak on this Bill. I want to thank the Minister for taking the time to address some of the points that have been made on, what I hope can be, game-changing legislation for the betterment of all in our society. Indeed, his predecessor, and my former ministerial colleague, Deputy Eoghan Murphy, provided many Cabinet updates on the Bill’s composition throughout the last Government, so I am pleased to finally see it has reached publication stage. I am sure that the Deputies will agree that…

I thank the Deputies for raising this matter today. I assure the House that the education of children with special educational needs is a key priority for this Government. The Government will invest in the region €2 billion this year in supporting children with special needs, which is over 20% of the total education budget. By the end of this year, there will be 18,000 special needs assistants employed in our schools. As the Deputies have pointed out, the SNAs play a huge role in supporting the inclusion of pupils …

It is not a fair assertion that my Department and I do not care about treating SNAs well. This course provides the very first opportunity for many SNAs to engage with the theory and research-based practice which underlies their role. I accept that the training is not yet accredited, which is not to say that it never will be accredited. We have to start somewhere and this is very valuable training. It is testament to its value that there have been so many applicants. It is a very well-considered course with excellen…

Táim buíoch as ucht an deis labhairt faoi chúrsaí oideachais speisialta. Táim ag súil go mór le ceisteanna na mBall. We are one year on from the arrival of Covid-19 in Ireland. The past 12 months have been unexpected, challenging and unprecedented for all parts of our society. I do not have to tell anyone that. We see it every day and we hear the stories from our communities. Everyone is making sacrifices for the collective good of society and the protection of public health. This is absolutely the right thing to d…

On the issue of children with SEN in mainstream education, it has always been our position that special education should be given priority in the reopening of schools. We know about the risks of regression for those who cannot engage in distance learning. We have said this repeatedly since the start of the year and this priority has not changed. The National Public Health Emergency Team, NPHET, has recommended a phased and cautious reopening of schools, and the Department always follows health advice and has done f…

No problem.

On ASD units in schools, I want to reassure Deputy Niamh Smyth that since 2011 we have increased the number of ASD units by 235%, from 548 in 2011 to 1,836. There are 197 new special classes in 2020-21, 189 of which are for ASD pupils. There are 12 early intervention classes. Some 113 of the new special classes are for primary schools and 64 are for post-primary schools. There will be 1,200 additional special class places in 2021. It is important to note that the NCSE also engages with schools to establish special …

I thank the Deputy for her questions. It had been planned that the front-loaded allocation model for SNAs would be rolled out to all schools from the commencement of the 2021 school year. Due to the disruption caused by the Covid-19 crisis, including the closure of all school buildings in March 2020, it was decided that the introduction of the model would be deferred. This will allow time for the necessary planning and training for schools. Supplementary provision and summer provision will be of assistance to child…

I would mention to Deputy Cathal Crowe that that is a HSE matter and I will pass it on to the Minister of State, Deputy Rabbitte. Obviously the supplementary provision is in place, the supplementary programme which will assist in terms of supports. I would say to Deputy Higgins that we have not under any circumstances turned our back on children with special needs. It has always been my absolute fervent desire that all children with special needs be made a priority and this was the case for the Minister, Deputy Fol…

On early intervention, that matter is under the remit of the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth, Deputy O'Gorman. I can write to him about it. On SNAs in general, we now have 18,000. Their numbers have increased by 78% since 2007 and many children with additional needs simply cannot function at all without an SNA so it is very important they are supported and the Government does that on an ongoing basis.

To clarify, I obviously cannot comment on an individual case but I will write to the Minister, Deputy O'Gorman, and bring it to his attention on the Deputy's behalf.