Joe O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

I thank Deputy Harkin for raising this matter as it provides me with an opportunity to clarify the position on the Department of Education's planning for school accommodation for children with special educational needs, specifically in regard to the application for additional accommodation made by Sooey National School, County Sligo.

The Deputy may be aware that Sooey National School is a Catholic primary school. The school had an enrolment in September 2022 of 120 pupils and, in September 2023, of 117 pupils. As of September 2023, the school has one teaching principal, four mainstream class teachers and two special education teachers. The school is in the Coola Cross school planning area and there are seven primary schools and one post-primary school in this school planning area.

The Deputy may also be aware that a building project for the provision of one mainstream en suite classroom and one special education teacher room, along with assisted users' WC, was completed at Sooey National School in 2021. The school submitted an additional ASA application to the Department of Education in February 2023 requesting funding for SEN accommodation, an outdoor classroom, an all-weather pitch, staff and bus parking and a general purpose room. The purpose of the ASA scheme is to ensure essential mainstream and special education classroom accommodation is available to cater for pupils enrolled each year where the need cannot be met by the school's existing accommodation or by available accommodation at other schools in the area. General purpose rooms are outside the scope of the ASA scheme.

The Deputy will be aware the Department has broadened its delivery streams and is utilising modern methods of construction, including modular accommodation, as well as traditional construction delivery methods. Modular accommodation has particular advantages in terms of overall timelines and climate impact in that it does not generally have a reliance on fossil fuels. In overall terms, it is important to have a range of delivery mechanisms for delivering school accommodation to support the current very strong and ambitious roll-out of school building projects. This is of particular relevance given the overall challenging construction sector market. A number of factors are considered by the Department of Education in determining the most appropriate construction method to meet a school's accommodation requirements, including the timing and duration of that accommodation need, and other school-specific factors.

Furthermore, the Department continues to undertake forward planning to meet the accommodation needs of increasing demographics at post-primary level. In addition, the Department also works very closely with the National Council for Special Education, NCSE, on forward planning for increased special education provision in the form of additional special classes and special school places.

In planning and providing for additional school accommodation, the Department must also have regard to construction inflation pressures and competing demands on suppliers of modular accommodation and project management services. In response to these challenges, both in terms of demand for accommodation and costs, the Department must prioritise spending and seek to achieve value for money in line with the public spending code and the national development plan framework. In general, demographics have been falling at primary level and are due to continue to decrease. Therefore the Department considers it prudent to maximise the use of existing spare accommodation capacity at primary level in the first instance before considering any applications for further accommodation needs. On the provision of primary special classes, the shared preference of both the Department and the National Council for Special Education is to use and reconfigure existing school accommodation to provide special classes.

Officials in the Department of Education have been engaging with Sooey National School regarding its application for additional accommodation. A previously proposed solution was not agreed by the school and the Department is now reconsidering the requirement for additional accommodation in the context of any wider opportunities to meet the need for special classes in the area.

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