My departmental colleague will take over from now. We will revert on the points the Senators’ raised.

Yes. I am very sorry about this.

I join in the words of welcome. It is always positive to see students in particular visiting here to learn about what we do here. I am delighted that I happen to be in the Chamber when they are here today. I acknowledge Senator O'Loughlin's particular interest in this scheme, which she has been very keen for us to advance for a long time. All of us who work in the education sector know of the benefit of a scheme of this nature. I acknowledge the Senator's consistent support for the measure and her consistent determ…

I reiterate my appreciation for the opportunity to outline what is, as the Senator said, a ground-breaking measure for our primary schools, but especially families who face specific and definite challenges when it comes to resourcing children for school. This €50 million investment is a positive, proactive measure to support families going forward. It also underpins our strong commitment in the Department of Education and throughout the Government to ensure that every child has the opportunity to maximise his or he…

The school transport scheme is a significant operation, managed by Bus Éireann on behalf of the Department of Education. In the current school year, more than 147,900 children, including more than 18,000 children and young people with special educational needs, are transported on a daily basis to primary and post-primary schools throughout the country. In addition, school transport scheme services are being provided in the current school year for more than 3,800 children and young people who have arrived to Ireland…

The Deputy is correct. Some 147,900 young people benefit from the scheme. He is also right that the review is a considerable body of work. Phase 1 has been completed. The consultation alone involved consulting with thousands of parents. It also involved consultation with stakeholders, providers in the area and with best practice with regard to what is happening in other European countries. A phenomenal body of work has been completed. Phase 2 is also complete and phase 3 has begun. It is our expectation that it wil…

I appreciate the Deputy's points. As a consequence of what was introduced last year, we have seen a 25% increase in provision of places for students on the school bus system, that is, 25,600 places and there has been a 26% increase in the allocation of special education places. There has been a considerable increase in availability of places in the school transport system. I take the Deputy's point about tickets being allocated, but they were allocated to people who fulfilled the criteria. He will be aware that the…

My Department’s statement of strategy sets out the vision and mission of the Department for an educational system where every child and young person feels valued and is actively supported and nurtured to reach their full potential. Its goal is to ensure equity of opportunity in education and that all pupils are supported to fulfil their potential. Since June 2020, and over the past three budgets, I have secured funding to support measures aimed at achieving and sustaining that goal. As part of budget 2023, I announ…

I appreciate the Deputy's support and want to acknowledge that there has been almost unanimous support within the Chamber for this measure. He is correct and I am conscious that the information needs to be in schools soon so that they have the opportunity to do what needs to be done in terms of the scheme. I recognise that schools will need to have this information available to them after the Easter break and we are working towards that schedule. As I have outlined to the Deputy, it is important that proper consult…

Schools will have the autonomy to purchase the books from their nearest and local provider, or whomever they have an existing relationship with. I am conscious that many schools have strong relationships with their local bookshop or local book provider and that autonomy will continue. The schools will make the decision as to where they will source the books. The funding that is being provided is specifically for the provision of textbooks and workbooks. Schools make their own policy around whether they use e-books …

I acknowledge the Deputy's engagement on, and interest in, this particular project. I am pleased to advise that the project on a greenfield site was approved for delivery by my Department for the school in question. The project provides for four mainstream classrooms and one special education needs, SEN, base under the Department's timber modular framework. The site was transferred from Solas to the Minister for Education at nil cost, in line with the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform circulars regarding …

I appreciate the Deputy's acknowledgement that considerable progress has been made. The design team has been appointed and the project is currently at planning stage. These are all positive landmarks for the school community. The project was devolved to the ETB, which is charged with responsibility for informing the patrons of the progress of the project as it is ongoing. I acknowledge the importance of the project and I accept that the school awaits it in anticipation but there is a clear line of progress that nee…

I acknowledge the excellence of education that is being delivered there every day. I also acknowledge the expectation of school communities that we would deliver as quickly as possible. From the point of view of the ETB, given that the project is devolved to it, there are particular steps that have to be taken, whether that is in terms of design, planning or whatever. It is positive that the decision in respect of planning is to be made at the end of the month. That will be a landmark moment in the development of t…

As the Deputy will be aware, for school planning purposes the Department divides the country into 314 school planning areas and utilises a geographical information system to anticipate school place demand. Information from a range of sources, including child benefit data and school enrolment data, in addition to information on residential development activity, is used for this purpose. Additionally, Project Ireland 2040 population and housing targets inform my Department's projections of school place requirements. …

The Deputy's initial point was on the provision of places for pupils in Limerick. Specifically on that issue, recently over 100 additional places have been provided in Limerick, 44 of which have been provided in recent weeks. There is a school in a position to make provision for the 26 pupils the Deputy referred to. Principals on the ground, particularly the chair of the Limerick Association of Principals and Deputy Principals, have confirmed they are confident the 26 pupils will be provided for in existing accommo…

I do not have an issue with that. I appreciate the Deputy's graciousness in accepting that there has been considerable investment in Limerick city. I have had the privilege of witnessing much of the work. I visited on several occasions. I referred to post-primary schools but developments at primary level are equally important. At primary level, a project for a new 32-classroom school building for Monaleen National School is planned. Gaelscoil Sheoirse and St. Mary's National School both have major refurbishment pro…

I acknowledge the Deputy's particular interest in the DEIS scheme. The Department provides a wide range of supports to all schools, including DEIS schools and non-DEIS schools, to support the inclusion of all students and to address barriers to students achieving their potential. Supplementing the universal supports available to all schools, the DEIS programme is a key policy initiative of the Department to address concentrated - the word "concentrated" is key - educational disadvantage at school level in a targete…

I will be clear. As I said, the key issue here is concentrated levels of disadvantage. I fully accept that there will always be children at risk of educational disadvantage in any school. I appreciate that. The specific supports that come with DEIS status are provided where there are concentrated levels of disadvantage. I accept the point the Deputy has raised about one school in a community receiving such status while another does not but, unless the exact same students with the exact same backgrounds attend both …

I will first complete my answer on the question of educational disadvantage. I am very conscious of the need to ensure supports across all schools because there are children at risk of educational disadvantage across all schools. It is for this reason that, as I stated earlier, we have introduced a variety of different measures, including measures with regard to the pupil-teacher ratio, a free books scheme at a cost of more than €50 million, a pilot programme of counselling services in our primary schools and so on…

As the Deputy is aware, the school transport scheme is a significant operation managed by Bus Éireann on behalf of the Department of Education. In the current school year, more than 147,900 children, including over 18,000 children with special educational needs, are transported on a daily basis to primary and post-primary schools throughout the country. In addition, school transport scheme services are being provided in the current school year to just over 3,800 children and young people who have arrived in Ireland…