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

I appreciate the Deputy's comments and I hear his frustration, which I share. I know this has been an extremely difficult time for families and children. Contingency planning is important. It is wrong to say there has not been any contingency planning as there has been. There is weekly engagement with all of our education partners and updated guidance on remote learning. Remote learning is not ideal but there is no choice when the child is not back in an in-person environment. This is why we put forward the supplementary in-home provision which will provide five hours per week over a four-week period - 20 hours in total - to try to supplement that. This can be provided at evenings and weekends, as I mentioned.

It is important to remember that the Department makes decisions with its education partners, boards of management, schools, and parents representative bodies, based on public health advice. It is not just one person making a decision. There are many constituent parts in the education sector and we must bring everybody on board and give everybody confidence to move forward. Obviously, people have concerns and those concerns must be addressed. I meet AsIAm, Down Syndrome Ireland, Inclusion Ireland, Family Carers Ireland and many parental representative bodies on an ongoing basis to make sure their voices are heard. It was very important to me, as the very first dedicated Minister of State with responsibility for special education, that the voices of children with special needs would be heard in a way that they had not been before. I believe they have been now. Proof of that is the fact that the special schools and special classes are open. Obviously there is more to do.

We spoke about regression earlier. The Department is very aware that there has been regression. We have the summer programme for next year. We also have the supplementary programme and we may be in a position to expand that. That remains to be seen but suffice to say, I will be doing everything I can to ensure we assist those children as best we can.