I thank Deputy Crowe very much for the question on Clonlara. I can confirm to him that the Department is in receipt of an application for funding for major capital works from the school in question. The application has been assessed under the Department's additional school accommodation, ASA, scheme. For background, since 2020, the Department has invested more than €5.7 billion in schools throughout the country, involving the completion of more than 1,150 school building projects, with construction currently under …

There is no doubt that when lived experiences of being and working in the classrooms is brought to the floor of the Chamber, it brings the matter very much to life in the political forum. Clonlara school applied for major capital works. An application is assessed following the site visit by the Department’s technical team. A brief of accommodation was issued to the board of management. This brief included the proposal for the demolition of the 1968 school building, which was poorly insulated and lacks direct intern…

I thank the Deputy. I accept the point. In the departmental documents, it is clearly stated there is no direct internal connection to other facilities. The Department clearly understands the challenges in Clonlara. What we have to do now is ensure the project proceeds through the various stages so the building can be got up and running. I commit to working with the Deputy to ensure this happens in a timely fashion.

I thank Deputy O'Reilly very much for the question about additional school places in Fingal West. I thank her for raising this matter, which gives me the opportunity to set out to the Dáil the position with regard to a shortfall of school places at both primary and secondary levels in Fingal West. It is an absolute priority to ensure that every child in the State has access to a school place. The Department of Education is continually planning for and investing in existing and new schools to ensure this is the case…

The Deputy mentioned someone waiting for an ASD class. Since I was appointed just over four weeks ago, we have had considerable engagement with senior officials in the Department and the National Council for Special Education to ensure sufficient places for children with additional needs come September. We have moved the discussion back from one later in the year. Our aim is to move it back further to have certainly for all children, particularly those with additional needs. Families are under enough pressure. I am…

I thank the Deputy for raising the issue of the criteria for school patronage. He mentioned a specific issue in his own constituency. The reply I have relates to the specifics of how school patronage works. I will outline that and might come back to him later on the specific issue, if that is okay. I thank the Deputy for raising this matter. It gives me the opportunity to report to Dáil Éireann the position with regard to the selection of school patronage for newly established schools. Since 2011, new arrangements …

Some of the long-established Gaelscoileanna and Gaelcholáistí, primary and post-primary schools that have developed across the country in the past 25 or 30 years, contrary to the criteria we now apply, were set up by local groups and in small entities. They have flourished and grown. I take the point that certain criteria are stifling development. I will take this specific issue back to the Department and will get a reply. I can continue on in relation to patronage. The Deputy fully understands the issues that are …

I am delighted to contribute to this debate. In recent years, I gained huge experience as Chair of the disability committee. That committee worked extremely well on a cross-party basis in the previous Dáil to ensure that the voices of disabled citizens, their families and their communities would be heard. I understand that another iteration of this committee will be set up for this Dáil, which is extremely important. From the evidence that was given to that committee over a four-and-a-half year period, it is quite …

I congratulate the Leas-Cheann Comhairle on his elevation to the position and wish him the very best of luck. It has been a long time since we shared an office in the engineering block many years ago. We have both served long apprenticeships in this building. I thank Deputy Quaide for raising the issue. I stress that enabling students with special educational needs to receive an appropriate education is a priority for me and the Government. It is the Government’s priority to ensure that all children have an appropr…

There is funding available in the current year for additional classes. In his earlier contribution Deputy Quaide mentioned Waterford and Dungarvan, and it would be remiss of me not to refer to that. We have had a number of meetings in relation to the issues there as well. Most recently we met with the Minister of State, Deputy Butler, and with officials to try and make sure there is a focus on that and so that we understand the challenges there. I understand the challenges first hand in relation to these issues. Th…

I thank Deputies for tabling the motion before us. I welcome the parents in the Public Gallery. I also welcome the contributions that have been made so eloquently by Members across the House. I thank those who have wished us well in our endeavours. I am delighted to have the role of Minister of State with responsibility for special education and inclusion and to be working alongside the Minister for Education for the betterment of all. This is a role I cherish deeply, and I thank the Taoiseach for appointing me. It…

I appreciate the Deputy raising the issue. I will deal with the specific issues he has raised in respect of Scoil Eoin. I thank the Deputy for the question and for the opportunity to outline how the Department and the NCSE continue to support children with additional needs. I want to stress that enabling students with additional needs to receive an education appropriate to their needs is an ongoing priority for this Government, myself and the Department of Education. In 2025, the Department will spend more than €2.…

On a general comment, it is welcome overall on the part of the Department and the NCSE that large schools are engaging with the process on additional special classes. It is hugely important that this happens and that they engage. On the point the Deputy made about the subsidence, has that information been fed back to the Department? If any technical or professional report they have drawn up on the subsidence on the site has been sent back to the Department, we can follow it up. If there is any information that the …

I thank the Deputy for raising this issue. Over the past four and a half years, we sat on the disability matters committee. I know the passion the Deputy brings to the issue of special education in Louth. In many of the discussions we had at that committee, she brought forward the challenges that are there, not only at primary school but post-primary as well and, indeed, in preschool and the AIM programme. In one of the long debates that we had in the Joint Committee on Disability Matters, the Deputy raised the cor…

The Department of Education, together with the NCSE, has been working with parents, schools, patron bodies and other stakeholders in County Louth and across the country to provide sufficient special education placements for children with special needs, in this case in the Louth area. By the end of this year, the number of special classes available nationally in mainstream schools will have doubled from 1,800 to more than 3,700 for the 2025-26 school year. This includes 400 classes the NCSE will sanction for this Se…

I thank Deputies Cullinane and McGuinness for raising the issue. At the outset, I stress that enabling students with special educational needs to receive an appropriate education is an absolute priority for me and the Government. It is the Government's priority to ensure that all children have an appropriate school placement and that the necessary supports are provided to our schools to allow children with special educational needs to flourish and prosper. Importantly, for myself as the Minister of State responsibl…

I thank the Deputies. I agree wholeheartedly with what the Deputies have said. I fully understand the challenges that are being faced in Waterford and across the country in relation to school places. It is an issue that behoves all of us. In my role and the responsibility that I have, I intend to use everything at my disposal to ensure places are made available. I know and I understand fully, as a public representative and indeed with the lived experience, the challenges that are being faced across the country, and…

Areas right throughout the country were seriously affected. Our area was seriously affected from 4 or 5 January by one of the most unprecedented snow storms. In some parts of Duhallow in north Cork, there was between 16 and 20 inches of snow. I compliment the farming community who really rose to the challenge in terms of putting their machinery at the disposal of the community. There was a massive community effort by everybody to try to clear roads. Many houses were cut off for the bones of a week. There was isolat…

I welcome the opportunity to address the Dáil in my capacity as Minister of State with responsibility for special education and inclusion. Over the past number of years, if not decades at this stage, in my time as a public representative, I have been interested in this area. In the past five years I chaired the Joint Committee on Disability Matters which afforded me a major insight into the lived experience and the difficulties faced by parents and students with special educational needs. Prior to that, I chaired t…

I listened and I took note of the Deputy's concerns. I am departing from the script but a number of parents and families have been-----