Jennifer Carroll MacNeill (Dún Laoghaire, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The Deputy knows that the one thing I could never do is promise something I could not deliver. I am completely honest about that. What I do know is that the Department of Education has, over the past two years, secured real delivery of projects for children with additional needs. Even in my constituency, there are, I think, 13 new classes that were not in existence prior to 2020. There is a genuinely different approach to delivery for children with special needs. Deputy Stanley is right that I have a long-standing interest in this. In addition to being a member of the Committee of Public Accounts, I was a member of the autism committee, which is continuing its very strong work on behalf of children, particularly those with special needs and very significant learning difficulties and those on the autism spectrum. It is quite impossible to imagine how difficult it is to teach children with so many additional needs who struggle daily in an environment that is not suitable for them, an environment in which one cannot access therapeutic machinery, occupational therapy and all the support tools needed to give children an opportunity to learn daily in the best possible way in a special school.

There is no question about the commitment of the Department to the special school in question, as with others. I understand that, from a financing perspective, the Department has a very significant capital budget and is discussing it with the Department of Public Expenditure, National Development Plan Delivery and Reform.

I know about delivery and commitment over the past couple of years from the Minister of State in the Department of Education, Deputy Madigan. I can see the progress in my area but it is important that the project be delivered in the Deputies' area as quickly as possible for the children there. I understand the concerns of the local community and the efforts they have made. They are meeting this evening. I note the efforts of their representatives in Dáil Éireann and of the ESB. Everybody seems to be completely behind this project. I thank the Deputies for raising it with me today.

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