I thank the Deputy for raising the issue of the Gaelscoil in Youghal. This falls under the remit of my senior Minister, Deputy Naughton, so I am taking it on her behalf. Educational disadvantage is a key priority for the Minister, the rest of the Government and me. The DEIS programme is a key policy initiative for addressing concentrated disadvantage at school level. Supplementing universal supports, the DEIS programme provides a fair and targeted way to address concentrated educational disadvantage that promotes e…

I will certainly pass on the comments to the Minister. She brings a wealth of experience because she served in the role I am in now quite recently so has a good understanding and has hit the ground running on these issues. It is not right. We are putting forward a programme and there is huge commitment by the Government. A total of €180 million is being put into this matter currently and more money will be pumped into it again this year and again in 2027. That shows that the Government, including the Minister, and …

I thank Senator Kyne for raising the matter. It gives me an opportunity to brief Seanad Éireann on the current position in relation to St. Joseph’s Patrician College, or the Bish, in Galway. The Senator is well aware that this was approved as a major devolved construction project to provide a long-term projected enrolment of 1,000 pupils and a four-classroom special educational needs base. It has been devolved for delivery to the Le Chéile Schools Trust. The senior Minister, Deputy Naughton, is very supportive of t…

I welcome Senator Kyne's engagement. It is hugely important that we continue, right across Government and the Oireachtas, to articulate the issues that are important to our communities, including those relating to the Bish. The Senator is right in saying that there is still some work to be done by the school community. That work needs to be done as a matter of urgency. The documentation to be submitted as part of the stage 2b process is very detailed but there are many great firms working with schools on them. It i…

I thank Deputy O'Donoghue for the question. I will update the Deputy and the House on the current situation regarding the building project for St. Joseph's Secondary School and Gaelscoil Ros Eo in Rush, County Dublin. The delivery of this campus project has been devolved to Catholic Education, an Irish Schools Trust, CEIST. The brief for St. Joseph’s Secondary School includes the provision of a 1,000-pupil post-primary school, including a four-classroom special education base. The brief for Gaelscoil Ros Eo include…

I understand this is the Deputy's former school where he has taught, so he knows first-hand the challenges being faced in the school communities there. He has outlined it in his opening remarks. I reassure the Deputy that the project is at stage 2B and CEIST has advised that the stage 2B report is ongoing. It is important there is no delay at any stage. The Deputy outlined the issue with prefabricated buildings. We have had a huge investment across the education sector over the past number of years and into the fut…

It is like being in a meeting in Cork North-West. I am delighted to see how professional an operation it is. I am delighted to be serving with the Cathaoirleach Gníomhach as well. Deputy Heneghan raised the issue in relation to disadvantage in the north-east inner city. I thank the Deputy for his engagement on education matters in the role that I hold at the moment. I urge all Deputies and all public representatives to continue engaging on education because it is hugely important for the future of our country. Educ…

I thank the Deputy for the question and the energy he has put into it. The DEIS programme has been hugely successful right across the country, both in urban and rural Ireland, to ensure that we are tackling disadvantage at its core. Retaining students within the education system is a huge priority for the Government. It is huge for Government policy and for my colleague, the Minister, Deputy Hildegarde Naughton, and me as well. We are acutely aware of the challenges that exist. The DEIS programme has shown up the c…

I thank the Senator for raising this issue. We all have connections to school communities, be they within our own communities or, indeed, across the country. It is hugely important that political representation continues to engage with school communities because they are the bedrock of the future of our society. The Senator is right to say that special education is very important to me. Since I took up this role, I have worked with the then Minister, Deputy McEntee, over the last number of months and now with the n…

I thank the Senator, and Mary and her team. It is a great tribute to the Senator's friend as well. I acknowledge that. I also thank the Senator for his kind words on the job at hand. On the specific school, I confirm that the Department and the NCSE are continuing to liaise with the school authorities on additional classes. We are trying to make sure we have classes within existing structures across education systems. We have many challenges in that regard but the Department and the NCSE will continue to engage to …

On my way down we were discussing the odds that Deputy Heneghan would raise the issue. I assure him that a lot of work is going on in this regard right across the education system. I will address the matter in response to the matter raised by Deputy Whitmore. I thank Deputy Heneghan for raising this important topic, which I am taking on behalf of the Minister for Transport, Deputy Darragh O'Brien. While the Minister has responsibility for policy and overall funding for public transport, neither he nor his officials…

I will continue with the response later if that is okay with the Deputy.

I addressed that issue during Commencement matters in Seanad Éireann this morning as well. I assure the Deputy that I am aware of the issue.

Regarding the 80 and the 130 bus routes, it is of course acknowledged that these changes will require some passengers to take different routes. Following on from the discussions with Dublin City Council, in 2027 and in advance of the closure of Dame Street between College Green and South Great George's Street to facilitate the College Green pedestrian plaza scheme planned by Dublin City Council, it is proposed that this temporary rerouting be removed. In this event, route 80 and route 130 will then be combined into…

I thank the Deputy for raising the issue because it allows me to outline where things are at. Two weeks ago, we announced the first tranche of the special classes. There will be multiples of those over the next number of weeks. It is not the case that it is just the number of classes that were announced as opening two weeks ago; there are a number of them. To reassure the Deputy, we are aware of the challenges in Wicklow, both on a special school and special class basis. I will deal with this in two pieces, if the …

I note the issue the Deputy has with the family who are looking for a letter of eligibility. If she shares with me details of that specific case, we will take it up and respond to the Deputy, rather than giving a carte blanche reply. It is important that we are very clear in our public statements that we are working extremely hard to make sure children who were notified before 1 October last have provision. We are also aware of the challenges that have arisen since 1 October. We have to make sure we do the right th…

I thank Deputy Conway-Walsh for raising this issue on behalf of St. Brendan's College in Belmullet. I always appreciate it when a Deputy raises an issue about which he or she has lived experience, in this case, family members in the school in question. I acknowledge the genuine tribute the Deputy has paid to the team in St. Brendan's College, as well as the huge amount of work that is going on across the education system. The Deputy asks what we can do in this case. We are spending a huge amount of money on special…

It was remiss of me not to mention at the outset that the Deputy's colleague, Deputy Pa Daly, raised an issue in relation to the HSE and the Department of education. I will follow up on that from our side as well about getting the Donal Walsh video circulated. On St. Brendan's College, I will go back to the planning and building unit and we will see where that is at. I take the point about funding. The cost of building is going to increase, has increased dramatically over the past while and will continue to increas…

I thank the Deputy for the genuineness of the question. Without filling it out, she has gone directly to the core of the issue. I will respond accordingly. We have had a huge amount of investment in special education, which I am glad to see, over the past number of years and last year we expanded that. This time last year, after being appointed, the deadline was 1 February. We were then correlating and getting the information in February and it was March or April before we were in any position to help families or g…

I would like to pay tribute to Miceál, who is the principal of that school, and the teams in all the special schools across the country - the teachers, SNAs and all the additional people who work there. I was at a special school in the south of Ireland in September. As I was walking along the corridor, one of the team there was using a measuring tape because they were putting together a chair out of a box for a student. There was no notice taken of it when I stopped to discuss it with them. It was part of their wor…