Seán Canney (Galway East, Independent)
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I thank the Minister of State for attending. She outlined that this is a challenge and I agree. In my constituency, Galway East, and in that of the Minister of State, Galway West, we know what is happening on the ground and we know there are severe challenges for people. We have to recognise some positive steps that have been taken. In my town, Tuam, St. Oliver's Special School is a great example of new school having been built. The only problem with it is that it does not have the capacity to take the demand that has been created within two or three years of it having been opened. I know that a decision has been taken to build a new school building for the Ábalta school in Galway, which is great news, but it will be maybe five or six years before it will be available. The problem relates to the gap between decisions having been made and the project getting to completion.

Some schools tell me that when they look for a special class, they are told they can have the class but that the Department cannot give them the money to build it. They have to make do with whatever accommodation they have, whether that is by using a general purpose room or some other room they have, but that takes away from the entire school and what it should be doing if it is willing to take on a class. The classroom, as opposed to just a class, should be funded, as the building should be, as an additional facility in the school, rather than trying to shoehorn it into an existing school and pushing other services out of the way. This is why the boards of management of some schools are not encouraged to look for special classes. What happens then is that if there is not a special class in a school and if a child needs to go to a special class, they end up going to a different school from that attended by their siblings, which is a huge problem for families. I accept we cannot have special classes in every school, especially in rural Ireland, but we need to look at that a bit more closely and manage it better.

Another issue, which does not come directly under the Department of Education, relates to the assessment of children at a young age in order that we can plan for what is needed. I have dealt with a child in national school who wants to get into Lakeview School in Galway. When I was last talking about it, seven children were waiting to get into that school. I have visited it and the Minister of State knows it well. It needs to be demolished and rebuilt as a proper school, because an adult service is housed within the existing structures of the school. It is a bit archaic and we need to pull that up along the line. If there is any help I can give the Minister of State in doing that, I will do so because it needs to be done in order that our schools and education system will be fit for purpose.

The issue of transport for special education is a huge problem for rural areas, such as east Galway, Connemara and so on. One thing that will drive an improvement is joined-up thinking. The Minister of State mentioned her conversations with the Minister of State, Deputy Rabbitte, the Minister for children, Deputy O'Gorman, and the Minister for Health, Deputy Donnelly, but I do not believe a co-ordinated effort is coming together.

People are working in silos. One of the best things that could happen would be for the Minister of State's Department to make clear that the children's disability network teams, CDNTs, need to work with the Department from the get-go and the Department with them. That would help enormously.

It is a challenge, as the Minister of State said. It is a crisis but not one that cannot be resolved. The problem is that with the processes we have, it takes time to turn the wheel in the other direction. Small things will make a difference to a lot of people.