Ryan O'Meara (Tipperary North, Fianna Fail)
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I welcome the Minister back. I have seen a lot of some of the witnesses recently. It is great to see the committee getting so much work done. I wish to start with the teacher fee refund scheme. A teacher contacted me recently having appealed a decision. This teacher is a guidance counsellor in a secondary school and has done a counselling course. They applied to the teacher fee refund scheme, and they have been refused. They have had to appeal that. The response I received in supporting the appeal and asking the reasons for the refusal stated: "The cost of course participation and examination fees on successful completion of teacher professional training courses are one of the reasons." The course that they are trying to claim back has to be clearly linked to learning, teaching and assessment. Some of the options that could link into that are listed. One is inclusion and tacking disadvantage, discrimination and equality. The second is promoting well-being. While being a counsellor is not going straight to teaching and learning, they are not teaching that in the class, but they are a career guidance counsellor in a school. It shocks me to think that a teacher fee refund scheme would not encourage teachers to upskill in such a way. We are talking about social media and phones in schools and trying to protect children and their well-being.

In the context of the well-being aspect of things, how could career guidance counsellors who become counsellors, which will obviously enhance their job, not qualify for that refund? The appeal is ongoing. We will see if we get it through. It looks a bit limited to me and I really do not think it is acceptable. Anything we can do to improve well-being, mental health and experience of young people in school, outside of just strictly the teaching environment, is a really good thing. If we have teachers who want to upskill in that way for the betterment of their students, we should be doing everything to help them.

I will now turn to an issue I raised and detailed yesterday evening with the Minister of State, Deputy Moynihan. I also raised it with the Minister last week without going into the specific details of the case. I refer to the mild or general learning disability classroom in Nenagh CBS Primary School. I went through some of this last week but did not give the details of the school until I had confirmed that I could do so. The Minister of State, Deputy Moynihan, was in the school with me last March opening a new special class. The school already has two special classes and the secondary school next door, Nenagh CBS secondary school, is also opening two special classes. We are also getting a new community special school in Nenagh under the patronage of Tipperary ETB. Fantastic work is being done there, particularly on complex needs and ASD diagnoses.

The mild or general learning disability class has been in existence in Nenagh CBS Primary School since the 1970s but the school has been told that it will not be in operation this coming September. The space that it was in is now going to be the new ASD class. The reasons for that include demand for the class. There were four children in this class, three of whom are going into the mild and general learning disability class in the secondary school next door and one is moving to Birr because the class is now gone. I cannot accept the argument that there is no demand for this class. There are no other mild or general learning disability classes in north Tipperary. The next closest is in Cashel which is over 50 km away from Nenagh CBS Primary School. On top of that, the secondary school on the same campus next door has 13 boys in its mild and general learning disability class. That class is at capacity every year. This issue was brought to my attention by the principal of the school when the Minister of State was there. It has now also been raised with me by a parent in the area. Her son has Down's syndrome. He does not have an ASD diagnosis but he has special educational needs and a mild or general learning disability class is where he needs to be. He cannot go to the new autism class in the school or the new special school so he has to go to a school that is 42 km away, with an escort. The parent is really concerned, particularly in relation to inclusion in school. He is now going to a special school with a mild or general learning disability class in Cashel which is very far away from his siblings and community. On top of that, his siblings cannot be enrolled in that school. If the class remained in Nenagh CBS Primary School, he and his siblings could be enrolled there together. He would get the attention and type of education that he needs while also being around his peers and his family support network. He would be getting a properly inclusive education. As I said last week to the Minister, we absolutely need a huge focus on complex needs and on getting spaces for children with ASD diagnoses. I can see the work that is being done in north Tipperary and the amount of classes that are opening in September but we cannot rob Peter to pay Paul. That is what I am seeing happen here. It is very worrying that a class that has existed since the 1970s is going on the basis of an apparent lack of demand when it just does not make sense that the demand is not there. There is also possibly an issue around awareness of this mild or general learning disability class. A lot of rural parishes just outside of Nenagh did not even know about it so parents were not aware that they had the option of putting their children in there. It certainly does not make sense to me that there is such a lack of demand at primary level when the class on the secondary school campus is at capacity. In explaining all of that, my request is that the mild or general learning disability class go back into Nenagh CBS Primary School.