Michael Moynihan (Cork North-West, Fianna Fail)

We will monitor the proceedings of that meeting very closely. Constant new thinking will improve the system as we go forward. I would appreciate it if the Deputy reached out to us and the team after the meeting to give us the up-to-date position. We will work with the Deputy in the special school in Longford, St. Christopher’s, and the issues that exist. I am aware that this is very dear to the Deputy's heart and that he has done a lot of work on it. We will engage on the issues.

There was a huge increase in the number of schools – or over 220 or 230, I think – that took up summer provision in 2025 by comparison with 2024. In some schools I have visited over the past couple of months, particularly the special schools, those concerned were saying there were a number of reasons why they were unable to get staff and participate in the summer programme. Since the entered the Department, I have been very open to any pilot schemes or initiatives that could be put in place to encourage special schools to operate the summer provision programme. However, there is a matter to which I have been giving an awful lot of thought, on the basis that the State has made a huge investment in special schools across the country. Some of the new ones have great facilities – a few have hydrotherapy pools and the like – but these are closed for a number of months during the year. Consider the campuses that have been developed by some of the service providers. Over many years, the State has, as a result of lobbying by community activists and public representatives, put an awful lot of money into this. Some of the facilities are closed at 5 o'clock on a Friday evening and opened at 9 o'clock on a Monday morning.