Josepha Madigan (Dublin Rathdown, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank Deputy Murnane O'Connor for her comments. I agree with what she said around communication. To be extra clear, I am not announcing any dates about the return to school.

I know that is the intention, but a Cabinet decision is being made today and I can confirm that there will be clarity at that point.

The Deputy referred to school buildings and smaller schools. It is important to know that all schools can apply to a scheme for funding for emergency works if they need to reconfigure. The sum of €75 million was given to all schools so that they could reconfigure as part of the package for the reopening of schools. It is very important that all schools know they can do that.

I am the very first Minister of State with responsibility for special education, which is good, because that is shining a light in a big way on this matter for the first time ever. I was considerably struck by the lack of ASD units. We are aware of that. If we look at it in context, there has been a 235% increase since 2011. This year there will be 1,836 special class places, of which 1,567 will be for ASD. We are making gains all of the time. There are supports for schools to open ASD units. There is a special class start-up grant of €6,500. We know there is one teacher, two SNAs and six pupils in an ASD unit. There is a furniture grant of €2,500 and an ICT grant of €6,700. There are a lot of incentives for schools. That is something we are working on as well.

I might ask Ms Mannion to respond to Deputy Murnane O'Connor’s specific query on the insurance issue for the Holy Angels centre.