I thank the Deputy for raising this hugely important Topical Issue and convey the apologies of my colleague, the Minister for Justice, Deputy Jim O’Callaghan, who regrets he cannot be here due to another commitment. On behalf of the Minister, Deputy O’Callaghan, I thank the Deputy for raising this important matter here today and for giving me the opportunity to provide clarity on the manner in which the personal injuries guidelines are drawn up and implemented. I state at the outset that it is not a matter for the …

I again thank the Deputy for raising the matter and providing me with an opportunity to go through the issues. I listened very closely to the points the Deputy made and I am aware of the views expressed by some stakeholders that the proposed increase will have the effect of increasing premiums. This is something we have to consider in the future in terms of how the Act operates. Members of the House will have an opportunity to discuss this in fuller detail when the resolutions are presented. On a more general level…

I thank the Senator. First, I welcome the students from Ballyvourney, in my constituency of Cork North-West, to the Gallery. I hope they will have a very enjoyable trip around Leinster House and see how things go here. It is always a great day when students come to Leinster House. Sometimes, people remember it forever. I congratulate Senator Kelleher and wish him well in his role. I thank him for giving me the opportunity to outline in Seanad Éireann the issue related to Scoil Eoin in Ballincollig. To give a brief …

There are a number of issues involved, including site constraints and the building itself. Notwithstanding the commitment of the board of management and the school community to additional special classrooms, it is important that we commend anybody who raises a hand looking for these. Not everybody does that. We have to acknowledge that. This year alone, 53 additional classrooms are being made available in County Cork - 35 at primary and 18 at post-primary. I will continue to liaise with the school authorities to lo…

I thank the Deputy for the question. This Government is fully committed to supporting children with special educational needs to fulfil their full potential, and the programme for Government makes a number of commitments to deliver on this objective. Up to an additional 2,700 specialist places, made up of 400 new special classes for, on average, six children each, and 300 special school places will be provided for the coming 2025-26 school year. The NCSE has sanctioned more than 375 new special classes to date, and…

I thank the Deputy for the supplementary questions. I met a number of parents and have met with them over many years in respect of special educational needs. I know the stress they are under. I cannot overstate how hard the Minister, Deputy McEntee, and I have worked over recent weeks to ensure we would have a place for every child in September. We are working extremely hard with the NCSE and the Department of Education officials to ensure all of the 400 special classes are opened by September. We are a number of m…

There is absolutely no policy change in relation to SNAs. We have more SNAs working in the education system and more budgeted for the 2025-26 school year. I take this opportunity of acknowledging the enormous work the SNAs do in the entire school communities. The work they do in special education, the dedication they put into it and the connection they have with the children and families is second to none. We should acknowledge the great work the SNAs do. We are committed to having more SNAs working within the educ…

No change.

I thank the Deputy for raising this question. I was in Kerry and visited a number of the special schools there in recent weeks. I visited Nano Nagle Special School in Listowel, St. Francis Special School in Beaufort and St. Ita's and St. Joseph's Primary and Post-Primary Special School in Tralee. These were very insightful visits and showed the tremendous work being done by principals, teachers, SNAs, boards of management and the wider school communities in each area. Each of the schools demonstrated superb leaders…

I thank the Deputies for the questions. I turn first to the issue in north-east Kerry. I have no difficulty in taking the details from the Deputy and following through on the specific issues. On Deputy Gould's point, the NCSE has been looking at the number of pupils who have come forward. The closing date was in February. We are doing everything humanly possible to make sure there are classes available. I am aware of some of the schools that have put forward names and that would accept classes, but we are trying to…

I will respond directly to Deputy Conway-Walsh with the details. On the issue in north-east Kerry, there have been extra SENOs put into the field since last September. My experience to date is that they have been working extremely well with families and school communities to ensure that the need is being addressed as locally as possible. There was a circular earlier in the year relating to medium-to-large schools. That is because the NCSE and the Department felt it was being left unduly up to the smaller schools to…

I thank the Deputy. The Government is fully committed to supporting children with special educational needs to reach their full potential. In the programme for Government, we have a number of commitments in that regard. Dedicated working groups have been established by the Department of Education to work through the details relating to the establishment of the five new special schools for the 2025-26 school year, including the new special school in County Monaghan. In the previous Dáil, I had the honour of chairing…

First, I wish to reassure the Deputy that the Department and the design team within it, the NCSE and the local ETB will continue to review the accommodation options available to allow the special school to grow and expand. While it is initially for 18 students in the coming year, we want to ensure we have available space to meet the growing need that we anticipate within the Monaghan community over the next number of years. I do not have to hand the exact number of students who had applied by 31 March but I will ge…

I met a number of the parents who were here last week. I know only full well the battle that all the families and parents are going through, not just from being a public representative but also from personal experience as well. I am fully aware of the challenges parents face daily with regard to special needs, particularly the battles around the country for special schools. I refer to a number of policies that were being spearheaded by the UN decades ago in relation to mainstreaming. There are children with acute n…

I thank the Deputy for the question. I also thank him for the work he does in this sector and the support he has given me since I took up this role. I greatly appreciate it. The majority of children with special educational needs are supported by mainstream classroom teachers, special education teachers and SNAs to attend mainstream classes with their peers. Where children have more complex needs, a special class or special school place needs to be provided. There are 2,700 new places being created and there are mo…

This will offer over 70 additional special school places in addition to the new capacity created in the new special school in north Cork.

In fairness, if the Deputy had listened to what I said, he would know that is not what I said.

We are deadly serious about making sure there are special places and special schools open in Cork-----

I thank the Deputies for the question. It gives me an opportunity to outline the issue from the side of the Department. It is under the remit of the Minister, Deputy McEntee in this regard. I am conscious that the leaving certificate can be a very stressful time for students and their families. This includes the stress of the examinations themselves and the decisions for students in determining their pathways into work or continued education. Following the implementation of calculated grades in 2020 and the dual ap…

I thank the Deputies and I understand their concerns. There are several issues here. Regarding therapies, there are additional places being provided in higher education for therapies and that is a commitment in the programme for Government. It is also an acknowledgement of the huge shortage out there within the State and I stated this in my previous reply. In any discussions we have regarding the leaving certificate, we must also acknowledge the State Examinations Commission has done an excellent job. Over the deca…