Aisling Dolan (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

My apologies. We had a motion in the Seanad and I had to step away for part of the meeting. I welcome the Minister and the Minister of State.

It is wonderful to hear about the extra supports being put in place, especially CLASS. It is a great acronym. That is €50 million for additional teaching supports. I apologise, as the Minister or Minister of State may have already commented on some of the matters about which I am going to ask. The Minister mentioned that the supports are dependent on the size of the school involved. I come from a rural area and some of our primary schools are smaller. We have some large schools as well, but we should be conscious that those supports are evenly distributed and that account is taken of the size of and numbers in the relevant school. There is also the fact we would like to reach every school. The Minister's constituency is on the smaller as well.

My other question is about the hot school meals programme. I thank the Acting Chair for the latitude and time he has afforded me. I know that he and the Chairman raised this matter earlier. The Minister may have replied to their questions already. Is there a system within the Department of Education for reviewing and approving certain schools? I am looking at this matter specifically in the context of DEIS. For example, DEIS band 1 schools can access hot school meals. In order to increase the number of DEIS schools, however, I understand that the position has to be reviewed. I am aware that a more general policy for schools is under consideration but I am interested in discovering how we will be identifying schools in need. Many schools have been in need in the past year or two. We should have follow-on supports at post-primary level for students who attended DEIS band 1 schools.

I thank the Minister for her assistance regarding the provision of additional accommodation in my area. St. Teresa's Special School has been approved for additional accommodation. I do not know if Mr. Hubert Loftus is still with us, but I would like to know if there is a timeline in respect of capital infrastructure provision. I understand that we have taken measures to accelerate it as much as possible. Also on capital infrastructure, we have spoken about the Scoil an Chroí Naofa project many times. The project relating to the school has been in train for 25 years, which is a long time, and remains at stage 2b. A great deal of work has been done by the planning team, the Department and the school on moving this project beyond stage 2b and to get an application for planning submitted to Galway County Council. Perhaps Mr. Loftus or someone else might be able to provide an update. If not, I would really appreciate it if a written update could be provided.

I thank the Minister and Minister for State for what they have achieved in the past year in the context of children with special needs and inclusion. I also sit on the Joint Sub-Committee on Mental Health. The Minister mentioned mental health supports for children in primary and post-primary schools. The Minister of State at the Department of Health, Deputy Butler, was mentioned. She is crucial to this because she has responsibility for the area of mental health. With regard the Minister of State, Deputy Feighan, who is responsible for public health, the healthy counties initiative being rolled out through the local authorities might also be something to support, with an integrated roll-out in our schools and local communities in order to have as much an impact as possible.