I am well aware of the campaign and discussions. I have met with the group and have committed to meeting with it again to discuss this further. In east Cork and the area the Deputy represents, there has been a huge growth in population, which increases the need for specialised education. One of the issues we have been looking at in the Department is people travelling long distances for specialised education. Between 2025 and 2026, almost 1,000 special classes have been opened across the country to try to meet the n…

I can confirm that we met the group some time ago, and we are committed to meeting it again. We are monitoring this across the country, and Youghal and east Cork are no different. We are watching the number of children who have applied through the portal for specialised education, whether in special schools or special classes, to ensure we are meeting the needs in those communities. The data from the portal allowed us to have a lens into how we were tackling specialised education. The aim across the education syste…

I thank Deputy Heneghan for the tour of the schools in his constituency. I do take his point on this serious issue. I welcome the engagement by all Deputies and political figures on education, which is hugely important. It is important that we engage as fully as possible with schools, school communities and families. The Government is strongly committed to supporting children with special educational needs to achieve their full potential and the programme for Government makes a number of commitments to deliver this…

Reviews are ongoing and we will have further engagement, along with the schools the Deputy mentioned. Over recent weeks we have announced a number of inclusive special classes as well, which is 47 in total. Of those, 32 are at post-primary and 15 are primary schools. These have been welcomed by the school communities where we are providing the resources. The school communities should look at what we have done in other schools as well because this is a hugely important and significant policy change which is being we…

I thank the Deputy. As I say of all Deputies across the House, the engagement they have with the education system is crucially important. We are able to have very informed debates here in Leinster House with Deputies' contributions. Deputy Heneghan mentioned a number of schools. We will certainly follow up on them. We are acutely aware of the challenges in the context of the SNA role. We have invested. There are 46% more SNAs since 2020, which is only six years ago. We have grown the number of SNAs. We are committe…

Addressing educational disadvantage and ensuring that every child and young person can reach their full potential is a key priority for both me, as Minister of State at the Department of Education and Youth, and for the entire Government. The DEIS plus programme represents a significant expansion of targeted educational supports. It is designed to provide enhanced, evidence-based supports to 121 schools with the highest concentrations of children and young people experiencing persistent and inter-generational disad…

I thank the Senator for raising the issue and for her engagement in special education. It is hugely important that public representatives at all levels are engaged with the education system. It is only by the information they are getting from families and parents that we can challenge the system on it. We are committed to specialised education, which is hugely important in getting children to reach their full potential. For me, the Minister, Deputy Naughton, and the entire Government, it is to make sure we can deli…

In the first instance, the school has the DEIS plus status. That status provides extra resources to communities and schools like the ones the Deputy has mentioned. It is important we acknowledge the work that is being done and the amount of money the Government is putting behind the DEIS plus programme and understand the disadvantage in communities across the country and in the ones the Deputy outlined. The challenge is ensuring we have proper governance. We have to have a cut-off date and 30 September has long bee…

We will endeavour to have that circular in operation for September 2026. It is important as we face the school year. I think a lot of students are looking forward to the holidays. We should not be talking about September. Certainly, when I was going to school, I thought September was sometime off in the Middle Ages. Families are looking at what is the best earlier in the year. They know the limitations and the challenges their children have in school, they are looking at how best they can support their children and…

I thank the Deputy very much for raising the question and also for the change in time, which I appreciate. We in the Department, and the entire Government, have invested heavily in ensuring that all recognised mainstream schools have been allocated additional special education teaching resources to support children with special educational needs, including students with literacy difficulties. Guidelines for schools on the organisation, deployment and use of their special education teachers have been published on th…

Therein lies the point. We are continuing to invest hugely, but we have to ensure that we get the outcomes of that investment for children and young people in primary and post-primary schools. There are a lot of teachers and SNAs across the education system. They are working extremely hard, and they are desperately committed to what they are doing. They are constantly looking at new initiatives and trying to find the best way of doing this. We are bringing in teacher training for special education to make sure that…

I thank the Senator for the opportunity to outline the capitation issue to the Seanad. I thank him for his ongoing engagement on education issues. He has been in contact with me over many of them. It is important public representatives continue to engage positively in relation to education. The Government is committed to increasing funding to support schools and the programme for Government commits to increasing capitation funding to schools of all types to ensure schools can meet everyday running costs. As we all …

The capitation funding is hugely important for school communities. We have, over the past number of years, increased it quite substantially, almost by 50% in some instances at primary and post-primary. We will continue to review that. The grant for the next school year will be paid in the next month and we are getting the funding out to the school communities as early as we can. As all education matters are being reviewed in the context of the budget in October 2026 for 2027, they will get consideration as well but…

I thank the Deputy for his Topical Issue. It gives me the opportunity to update the Dáil about investment in schools in Kerry but, more importantly, it shows that the Deputy is in touch with all the school communities, which is hugely important. All Deputies from all sides of the House are engaging with school communities because they are a hugely important piece. They are educating our young people and are meeting many challenges head on both at leadership level in the schools and as teachers and special needs ass…

I thank Deputy Cahill for his closing remarks. I take the point very seriously. He has very eloquently put the challenges facing several schools he has listed on the Dáil record as regards funding and some basic infrastructure. As a country, we have been very proud of our education system that has developed over many years but it is crucial because you have to have the right working environments for the teaching communities, leadership, teachers, SNAs and all the school communities together. More importantly, it is…

I thank both Deputies for raising the issue. On a serious note, I always admire when constituency colleagues come together on issues of education. It shows the depth of knowledge and commitment they have to education and I have seen that in several constituencies, so I compliment them on that. Addressing the education disadvantage and ensuring every child and young person can reach their full potential is key for both me and my colleague, the Minister, Deputy Naughton. We look at this and the supports we give to ch…

In the first instance, the appeal process is there. I am sure the school communities are engaging to ensure that appeals are submitted. Going back to the challenges in relation to this matter, we have often seen that the criteria being used are very robust. The data collection is also very robust. The challenge here is that the Deputies have given me figures in relation to percentages of unemployment and lone parents and information in respect of IPAS centres. It is hugely important that we have a robust system tha…

I thank Senator Kyne for the question. The official reply raises a number of issues in relation to regional representation and the money and work that has been done by the NTA in Galway and its hinterland. The Government and the Minister are responsible for the policy and the overall funding but it is the NTA that delivers, plans and develops it in line with the statutory responsibility for providing transport. There are a number of issues on which it is working with Galway city and county councils in terms of deve…

In regard to the Senator's points on further expansion and further change in legislation, that will come in due course. There is serious engagement by the NTA, the Department of Transport and indeed the whole of the Government in relation to funding for Galway for transport infrastructure as well as other issues. The wider point is that if there is a link from the local authorities and the communities right up to the national office, many times some of what can become big issues can be seen earlier on in the proces…

I thank Senator Gallagher for his question. I welcome the opportunity to speak to the House on behalf of the Minister for Transport, Deputy O'Brien. I understand the question relates to the provision of additional funding for road maintenance due to the rising cost of materials. The Government is strongly committed to protecting our existing road network. The improvement and maintenance of our regional and local roads are the responsibility of local authorities. Funding for such improvements and maintenance is prov…