Hildegarde Naughton (Galway West, Fine Gael)
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I will start with the issue of reform. I know we are firefighting here regarding the upcoming school year and I do not want us to be in this position again. Part of how we do that is through building the capacity of the NCSE and addressing the limitations in its resources. That is why, as I said, we are increasing the number of SENOs, reducing the administrative burden on them and reducing the geographical areas they have to cover so there can be more visibility and relationship-building on the ground.

I will go through the figures here. There was a meeting. I know that many of the parents are listening in because I told them about this in our private meeting and when I met them outside the Dáil last week. I meet with the NCSE every week. My commitment was to keep the parents informed through one point of contact within the NCSE who can talk to the parents on a weekly basis to keep them updated. I will not get this resolved in a matter of one or two weeks. I wish I could give that commitment, but I like to be honest with people.

Regarding today's update, officials in my Department met with the NCSE. The figures that are known to the NCSE in respect of the primary schools in Dublin 15 and the demand for places are as follows, and I will come back to the issue of the gap of information regarding what the schools know and what the NCSE knows. The demand for primary school places in Dublin 15 at the moment is 12 and there are 15 places available. The demand for post-primary places is nine, and there are 11 or 12 available.

The NCSE, as the Senator knows, called parents last week and it will do the same this week. Some parents may be under the impression that they would have been offered a place last week. That is not the space we are in right now. The NCSE is working with schools.

I will now come to the Senator’s point about the information. This is what I want to do on the reform piece. I want to close the gap here. I ask parents to make sure they are contacting the NCSE. Some parents are contacting the schools and I understand why they do that. It is okay to do that, but they should please contact the NCSE so it is aware of the children who require a school place in the coming school year in order that it can work with the schools to secure places.

An issue that came up, and this is part of the problem that needs to be reformed, is that some of the special places within schools that become available are already taken up from within the school. This is where the information gap arises because the NCSE may not know about that. It may be that four or five places have opened up in the school but the school has already earmarked those for existing pupils in that school. I know the parents who are listening know this. This is what came up in our conversations, but this is part of the reform that I want to address by next year. That is the role of the NCSE and it will do it through its increased resources.

I am doing everything I can to engage with and listen to the NCSE about its needs and how this is working and how it is not working. It will not work perfectly straight away, but I want there to be visibility on the ground. This is a matter of the NCSE going out to talk to parents so they will know exactly who their SENO is. The lines of communication will be open and they will know exactly who to contact.

I refer to the issue of forward planning, which the Senator raised. This is a matter of the Department working with the NCSE and those engagements with the school and school principals. As the Senator has told me, the principals have this information. They had it a couple of years ago and they relayed it. We have a new pathway forward for the NCSE, which now has the resources to respond to this. I will be all over this issue. I know that will be of cold comfort to parents who are listening in, because they will feel as though they have heard this before. I will work with the Senator because I know she is engaging with families directly.

Our meetings take place every week. We will never discuss individual cases here, but it is down to the level of individual pupils and the names of children trying to find a place, so parents can be reassured. I can promise that there will be one point of contact in the NCSE who will be engaging with the parents. I ask the parents to give me the space to work with them. I know they will not want to hear this, but they may not get the school place they want or the school they want for now. I want to move to a position where there will be a school and the NCSE can work with parents and the school so they can find that place with their siblings and do not have to be travel outside their area to find an appropriate school place. This is the work I am doing but there is a bit of firefighting at the moment.

I will continue to engage with the Senator and get the NCSE to engage with the parents. I will do whatever I can for the children, not just those in Dublin 15, but particularly in that area because it is one of the real hotspots in the country. Many of the other areas have been resolved. This will be my complete focus for the next couple of weeks in this regard.