Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)

The increased allocation will ensure that, for the first time, each school will have resource teaching to meet children's individual needs. That was the priority that we set, and I stand by it. We have put a team of 80 local special educational needs organisers on the ground to work with parents and teachers and help them get the appropriate support for their children.

At second level, nearly 1,900 whole-time-equivalent additional teachers are in place to support pupils with special needs, compared with approximately 200 in 1998. In addition, there are more than 500 whole-time-equivalent learning support teachers and approximately 1,400 whole-time-equivalent special needs assistants in our second level schools. More than €820 million is being provided for special education in 2007 — €180 million, or nearly 30%, more than in the 2006 Estimates.

Further improvements in services are on the way, with the roll-out of the Education for Persons with Special Educational Needs Act 2004. The Act provides for an educational assessment for children with special needs and the entitlement to an individual educational plan. It also provides for parents to be consulted and informed at different stages of the process. Parents will also have recourse to an independent appeals board, which will have the power to compel bodies, including the Health Service Executive, to take specific action to address matters before it.

While many sections of the Act have already commenced, the remaining sections relate mainly to the statutory assessment and education plan process for which it provides. The National Council for Special Education, NCSE, recently submitted its implementation report to me, which sets out its views and recommendations on a plan for the implementation of the Education for Persons with Special Educational Needs Act 2004. That is being considered by my officials.

Guidelines regarding devising and implementing individual education plans have already been issued to schools by the NCSE. It is the council's intention that those guidelines provide a benchmark for best practice pending the implementation of the Education for Persons with Special Educational Needs Act 2004 and that schools use them to draw up school policies and procedures regarding individual education plans in advance of the mandatory requirement for them to do so. Once the relevant provisions in the Act have been commenced, it is envisaged that the guidelines will have statutory effect.

I assure Deputies that the Government will continue to prioritise extra resources for children with special needs to allow the full implementation of the Education for Persons with Special Educational Needs Act 2004.

The final issue before the House tonight relates to the school planning process. Reversing the effects of decades of underinvestment in existing schools and providing new ones in areas of growing population has been a major priority for the Government. Under the largest school building programme in the history of the State, we are spending over €540 million on school buildings in 2007, compared with only approximately €90 million in 1997. Thousands of schools have benefited from the €3 billion provided for school buildings since 1997. A great many more will benefit from record investment of €4.5 billion in the school building and modernisation programme under the National Development Plan 2007-2013. The level of work being done under the school building programme is at an all-time high.

While increased investment has been a central reason, changes in how projects are managed have also made a major difference. Not only are we spending more than five times what was provided for school buildings in 1997; the innovations made in the design and delivery processes for school building projects are also helping to achieve ever greater success.

Some 1,100 schools have been approved for projects under the summer works scheme this year. That innovative scheme, which allows schools to get small projects done over the summer holidays, did not exist when we entered office, and schools waited very many years for improvements such as rewiring, new roofs and windows. Now, when the school gates close for the summer, the builders move in, and the students come back to an improved environment just a few months later.

To reduce red tape and allow projects to move faster, responsibility for smaller projects has been devolved to school level. I recently announced details of more than 250 schools approved for works under the small schools initiative and the permanent accommodation scheme, neither of which existed until 2003. Standard designs have also been developed for eight- and 16-classroom schools to facilitate speedier delivery of projects and save on design fees.

In addition to those changes, particular focus has been put on improving forward planning through the publication of area development plans and greater co-operation with local authorities. In 2004 my Department adopted an area-based approach to school planning whereby, through a public consultation process involving all interested parties, a blueprint for schools' development in an area is set out over a ten-year timeframe.

The areas covered in the pilot phase of that new approach to school planning include the rapidly developing areas of north Dublin, south Louth and east Meath, and the N4-M4 corridor running from Leixlip to Kilbeggan, including all rapidly developing towns and villages in that belt. In addition to improving our own planning processes, we are also naturally anxious to ensure that education be central to the planning decisions being made by local authorities. As Deputies will be aware, my Department must be informed by local authorities of all development planning processes at county and sub-county level. That ensures that the Department is alerted about new and expanding residential areas and affords an opportunity to safeguard appropriate zoning provision for educational purposes.

However, as well as ensuring that sufficient education provision is included in local authority development plans, there is significant scope for greater co-operation between my Department and local authorities to fast-track the delivery of schools and community facilities. Agreement has been reached with Fingal County Council on a new partnership approach to do precisely that. Under that arrangement, and based on the school planning projections of the Department, Fingal County Council will identify and acquire appropriate sites where schools with enhanced sporting, community and arts facilities are to be built.

In practice, the local authority will identify the sites when adopting local area plans. The council will go on to acquire sufficient land as recommended by the Department on which an appropriately sized school or schools for that local area can be built. In return, the design of the schools on those sites will be varied to meet community needs identified by the council. The range of enhanced combination facilities will include full-size sports halls, stage and dressing rooms, community meeting rooms, all-weather pitches and playgrounds. Those additional facilities, which will be over and above the Department's standard specifications for schools, will be available not only to the school during normal school hours but also to the local community in the evenings, at weekends and during school holidays.

The Department will benefit from major savings on the cost of school sites, as the council will make land in its ownership available at a reduced cost and negotiate the purchase of lands from developers at a lower cost. In return, the Department will invest part of the savings achieved in enhanced sports or community facilities, which will also be funded by the county council. That model will be used in Fingal to deliver approximately 20 schools. I am anxious to see that partnership approach replicated throughout the country and urge Deputies to use any influence they have on their local councils to encourage them to follow Fingal's lead.

Another provision allowing local authorities to ensure that schools are in place when needed is, of course, the strategic development zone process. Using that model, the Department is working closely with South Dublin County Council and developers to produce an integrated solution to education and community facilities in Adamstown that matches the delivery of new housing. The strategic development zone for Adamstown requires that housing and supporting infrastructure, including schools, be provided in a phased manner. It is a condition of the strategic development zone that, on completion of phase 2, with a maximum of 1,800 housing units, a primary school of eight classrooms or a post-primary school of 12 classrooms be in place. Each additional housing phase requires the provision of further school accommodation.

Such an approach ensures that schools are in position ahead of, or in line with, demand, and it should be adopted by other planning authorities regarding major new housing schemes. Major progress is evident across the whole spectrum of education. It is particularly evident in the improvements in school staffing, prioritising children with special needs and those from disadvantaged areas, reducing class sizes this year and last year, and providing unprecedented investment in school buildings. We know that challenges remain, but we are also confident that we have put the investment, policies and priorities in place to address these challenges.

See this speech in context