Josepha Madigan (Dublin Rathdown, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

You cannot kill a bad thing. It is very positive that he is well and thank God for that.

Deputy Ó Laoghaire, who was here earlier, also recovered from Covid-19, as did a number of other Senators and Deputies. None of us in this House, therefore, including staff, are immune to suffering the effects of Covid-19. We are all human beings at the end of day. I wish the Ceann Comhairle well and hope he has a very peaceful, safe and happy Christmas. I thank all the staff in the Oireachtas for the incredible work they do. There is huge pressure on all of us during this pandemic. My colleagues are also under pressure in their respective constituencies and receive representations on a daily basis all the time.

Specifically, with regard to special education, one of the main concerns I had with this pandemic is the risk of regression for children with additional needs. It is a very real concern. There was regression because children with additional needs learn best in person. Remote learning is just not ideal for them. It is extremely difficult for them. We will move mountains to make sure the schools reopen in the new year, particularly for children with special educational needs, SEN, in special schools and classes and in mainstream classes.

In terms of regression, one of the first things we put in place was the supplementary scheme back in February at a cost of €10 million. That helped approximately 14,000 children receive additional targeted hours during that period of time. We also expanded the summer provision for the very first time so the whole of the school community - all 4,000 schools - were eligible to apply. Some 81,000 children were eligible. We doubled the spend on it and increased the funding to €40 million this year, and more than 24,000 children availed of it.

Deputy Ó Cathasaigh mentioned the Covid-19 learning and support scheme, CLASS, earlier. We put a significant amount of funding, €52.6 million, into that. That is a total amount of more than €100 million to support these children. The CLASS is not just for children with additional needs but also children going to Delivering Equality of Opportunity in Schools, DEIS, schools and perhaps children who have not availed any sort of support within the school education system before. Some children were affected in terms of their mental health by anxiety, concern around socialisation or whatever it is. We left it to the discretion of the principals and school community to look after them.

I thank school community, as I am sure the Minister, Deputy Foley, did earlier. I commend the principals, secretaries, school staff and SNAs. We have 19,000 SNAs in the country doing incredible work, serving the very intimate needs of children with additional needs, particularly in the special schools. Out of 126 special schools, three to four of them are quasi-medical. An SNA needs to give a huge amount of care to these children in those circumstances and in very challenging times.

It was mentioned earlier that many in the school community and the health services, as Deputy Collins said, are exhausted. We are all exhausted. Everybody is tired and this pandemic is very trying for everybody, but particularly those at the front line. I assure this House today that all the contributions made by all the Deputies will be brought back to the Ministers, Deputies Donnelly and Foley, and, indeed, to Ministers of State such as myself. No stone will be left unturned to make sure we look after both education and health insofar as we can.

Funding is important, and €600 million in total has gone to the school community. There is no point giving funding if it is not going to the right place, however. It is important that we, as line Ministers, ensure that the money goes to where it should be going and not down into empty void.

I thank the Ceann Comhairle and wish everyone a very happy Christmas.

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