Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputies for their contributions. Deputy Murnane O'Connor raised the issue of the school building programme, with particular relevance to County Carlow. We have an extensive school building programme under way throughout the country.

More than €1 billion per year is spent on new schools, extensions and refurbishments. In my constituency last Friday I had the privilege to carry out the official opening of the new Pelletstown Educate Together National School. Anyone who has been in a newly built school or had the privilege to attend an official opening will know how high-quality new school buildings are. This gives us an insight into how much needs to be done to modernise, refurbish and replace some of the older buildings. It is never possible to do every project in any one year or as quickly as we would like, but there is a very extensive pipeline of projects that I know the Minister is working very hard to accelerate and to make sure they progress over the coming years.

Deputy O'Sullivan referred to an issue in relation to childcare in Watergrasshill. I do not know exactly how Pobal systems work. It seems a bit strange there is no right of appeal or right of correction. If somebody makes an honest mistake, they have made an honest mistake. We have all done it ourselves at some point in the past. I do not know all the facts but it sounds a bit harsh if it is that simple. If the Deputy wants to give me some details on that, we will follow it up with them and see what we can do.

Deputy Dillon raised the issue of vaping by children in schools. It is both a health issue and an environmental issue. It is a health issue because it is addictive, and an environmental issue because of the waste caused by the discarding of disposable vapes. Legislation is coming through that will ban the sale of vapes to minors and bring in a licensing system so that only recognised stores are able to sell vapes. We will take a look at a ban in schools. There is some merit in that idea. It might be the case that schools on their own can make it against the rules without the need for legislation. We will certainly look at that. The Deputy's suggestion of an education campaign targeted at young people to inform them of the risks is a very good suggestion too. I will speak to the Minister of State, Deputy Naughton, about that.

Deputy Boyd Barrett raised two specific individual cases. I do not have the details of them. If he would like to pass them on, I will certainly raise them with the Minister of State, Deputy Madigan. We do our best to find school places for everyone. Where it is not always possible or where we cannot, home tuition is often used as the backup option.

Deputy Murphy also raised a specific individual case of baby Ada. It sounds like a very sad case. I want to express my condolences to the parents and to the family involved. I have encountered sudden infant death syndrome, SIDS - not in my personal life but in my medical practice - and I have at least some sense of the impact it has on families and on parents in particular. While I cannot make any commitments on the hoof in the House, I will certainly raise it with the Minister, Deputy Stephen Donnelly, to see if there is more we can do to help parents and help families who are affected by it, and also to carry out further research.

Deputy Barry raised the issue of St. Kilian's special school in Mayfield and the need to put therapists in place. I will certainly follow this up with the Minister of State, Deputy Rabbitte, and see what the situation is.

Deputy Ó Murchú raised issue of autism and the school inclusion pilot model that was putting therapists into schools to see if that was more effective than through the HSE system. I believe the initial report on it was very favourable and it was then intended to extend it to other areas. I am not sure where it has gone from there so I will certainly make inquiries, out of my own interest, but I will also get back to the Deputy about it too.

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