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

Those are important points. As I said, the planning and building unit is under the remit of the Minister but I will bring it to its attention. I am glad I did not have to use the section 37a mechanism and that, in the main, schools have been very welcoming in terms of opening ASD classes and embracing that difference for children with additional needs on which I commend them.

Therapies and supports are a matter for the Minister of State, Deputy Rabbitte, but I will speak to her about that.

There are 41,500 staff wholly and exclusively dedicated to special education, whether they are special needs assistants, SNAs, or special education teachers. There should be supports in place for schools. They can obviously get an exceptional review if they feel they do not have those supports and the Deputy can bring to my attention any schools that feel they are not supported because they need to be. The key drivers of capital investment in the school sector include demographic growth, particularly at post-primary level, which the Deputy mentioned. That is where forward planning and the geographical information system come into play. The increased demand for special education provision is always being looked at and monitored on a daily basis, as is the alignment of school place provision with housing developments. Climate action objectives, including deep energy retrofits, are also taken into consideration. All of those factors are extremely important.

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