Joe McHugh (Donegal, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputy for giving the opportunity to outline to the House the position regarding these schools. He covered a broad range of issues. I acknowledge the recent difficulties faced by Our Lady Immaculate SNS in Darndale and the supports provided by the National Educational Psychological Service, NEPS, which launched a critical incident response, that included advice to the school in supporting the staff and students affected by the very unfortunate incident.

Budget 2020 marks the fourth year of a major investment in education. It provided for an allocation of more than €11 billion for my Departments in 2020. This is the highest ever allocation to the sector and an increase of almost €2 billion since 2016. The numbers employed in our schools have reached the highest ever level. More than 580 additional teaching posts will be funded to cater for children with special needs, the growth in our student population and supports to secure the future of small schools. This builds on the budget 2018 measure, which provided a one point improvement in the staffing schedule in primary schools to bring the position to the most favourable ever seen at primary level, and budget 2019, which provided for more than 1,300 additional posts in schools. Teacher numbers at primary level have increased by almost 3,500 when comparing the 2015-16 school year with the current school year and this has led to a steady improvement in the pupil-teacher ratio and average class size statistics during this period. It was also announced in budget 2020 that an additional 1,064 special needs assistant, SNA, posts will be allocated to schools by December 2020, bringing the total number of SNAs available for allocation to more than 17,000.

The key factor in determining the level of staffing resources provided at individual school level is the staffing schedule for the relevant school year and pupil enrolments on the previous 30 September. The staffing schedule operates in a clear and transparent manner and treats all similar types of schools equally, irrespective of location. The staffing process includes an appeals mechanism for schools to submit a staffing appeal under certain criteria to an independent appeals board. These criteria are available on my Department's website as part of the primary teacher allocation section. Our Lady Immaculate SNS submitted an appeal to the primary staffing appeals board but the appeal was unsuccessful. The school will be entitled to an additional mainstream class teacher in the 2020-21 school year based on its latest enrolment returns. The primary staffing appeals board operates independently of the Department and its decision is final. There is no change to the staffing of St. Laurence's national school in the current year and the school has not submitted an application for additional teaching staff to my Department.

An Taoiseach recently met local stakeholders in the area, including the principal of Darndale senior school. The meeting was attended by the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment, Deputy Bruton, the Minister of State at the Department of Health, Deputy Finian McGrath, Deputy Sean Haughey and Senator Catherine Noone, and provided an opportunity to discuss a range of issues of importance locally. Under Project Ireland 2040, the Department will invest €8.4 billion in primary and post-primary school buildings. This will include the provision of 50 large-scale school building projects and 20,000 additional school places in new buildings and extensions being delivered annually.

The summer works scheme is designed to allow schools to carry out small and medium scale building works that will improve and upgrade existing school buildings. The works are carried out by the schools themselves on a devolved basis mainly over the summer months. There are no applications from the schools in question under this scheme. In addition, the Department also provides an emergency works scheme, solely for unforeseen emergencies or to provide funding to facilitate inclusion and access for special needs pupils. An emergency is deemed to be a situation that poses an immediate risk to health, life, property or the environment, which is sudden, unforeseen and requires immediate action and, in the case of a school, if not corrected would prevent the school or part thereof from opening. Grant approval for mechanical repairs to Our Lady Immaculate SNSl was issued in September 2019 under this scheme.

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