Brian Stanley (Laois-Offaly, Sinn Fein)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

It is good to hear that. I have been in units in special schools where children had special needs. While I do not want to be parochial about it, I could not go home today with a clear conscience not having raised that. The level of need in Kolbe is far higher. It has an extra three or four pupils coming in this September. I do not need to remind Mr. Loftus about the building, which is of the worst standard. They are still in prefabs. There is only one solid classroom unit and everything else is prefabs. That is difficult enough in an ordinary school, for want of a better term. However, there are children with challenging behaviour and severe physical and psychological disabilities in this school, yet there is no sensory space and all of that is missing, which compounds the issues.

I ask the Department to keep its foot on the accelerator. The school has been told to go to tender. I appeal to the building unit of the Department to push that on as much as it can. The Department might come back to me, on foot of today's meeting, with a note on where things stand and whether the timeline for the next stage can be expedited.