Pa Daly (Kerry, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Cathaoirleach for allowing me in. I also thank the Minister of State and his team for staying. I submitted a parliamentary question recently and the reply stated that in general the Government is committed to supporting children with special educational needs so that they can fulfil their potential and where there is a known demand additional classroom accommodation will be made available. Cases are coming into my office every week, particularly from County Kerry. There is one family from Killarney who know the ropes in the education sphere. They have a child who is three years and eight months. He has profound needs. He has cognitive delays, sensory processing issues and is non-verbal. They are looking for an the early intervention autism class to be opened at St. Oliver's National School in Killarney. The school has spare staff and it has the desire and the space to open such a class which will improve the long-term outcomes for their child. The family says they know of four other families, who may not know the system as well as they do, who they feel may have been fobbed off. They have reports from the SENO and the NCSE. That recommendation is there for them and for four other families, they say. They are wondering why this cannot be done.

I have also spoken to the Minister of State about Murhur National School. It has a spare classroom. There is a demand. They have the names of at least four children who would use the facility. There is no other facility in north east Kerry. They have to travel over the border into County Limerick. We ask that this be provided for the school. Other secondary schools have contacted me, such as Presentation Secondary School in Castleisland. A parent whose child goes to Cullina National School also contacted me recently. I could go on and on with different examples. There is a serious problem. In particular, I ask the Minister of State to look at St. Oliver's National School in Killarney, the demand is there, and Murhur National School in Moyvane, north Kerry.

The nearest place is Listowel. Parents have to travel. It will save money because they will not have to travel over the border into County Limerick to access the educational needs for their children, which they have according to the Department's reply to my parliamentary question, while supporting their children with special needs to fill their potential.