Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank Deputy McDonald for raising this important issue. It is important because parents of children with special educational needs do rely on the summer provision. It provides excellent support to children during the summer period. It The programme also provides excellent support to families. I assure parents who are watching in today that I intend to prioritise special educational needs every day that I am Taoiseach. This was why, on becoming Taoiseach, I established a new Cabinet sub-committee on disability, which I chair. It is why I also elevated the Cabinet voice for special educational needs by appointing the Minister of State, Deputy Naughton, to sit at the Cabinet table. It is why we have provided €12 million more in recent weeks for assessments of need. The Minister of State, Deputy Rabbitte, has special responsibility for this area.

Let me be very clear about this matter. The Deputy should not come into this House and create anxiety for parents. There has been no cut to the summer school programme. The budget this year is the same as that for last year. What there has been, however, is the deployment of that budget based on the feedback we have heard from those who use the programmes. What we have heard from them, and the Deputy is correct about this point, is that access to the programme was the biggest challenge. I am sure the Deputy will welcome the fact that we have seen more schools apply this year than applied last year. The number in that regard rose to 1,700 from 1,400. Again, parents have enough going on without being made into political footballs. Those watching these proceedings need to know that already this year we have seen 300 more schools than last year put up their hands and say that they want to provide the summer school programme. Let us not add to the anxiety that these parents already face.

What we are doing - we also did this last year - is ensuring that we continue to pay a higher personal rate of pay to SNAs and teachers working on the school-based scheme. The capitation rate for the special needs schools attended by those children with the most complex needs is €60, not €30. The €30 rate of capitation is being supplemented by means of a range of new measures, which the Deputy may or may not be aware of, that were not in place last year. For example, we now have a dedicated national co-ordinator for the programme. We have provided additional grant funding to special schools. We have reduced the length of the school day. From September, we will provide that every special needs school in Ireland will have an administrative deputy principal. There will be 100 new post-primary teaching posts across our special schools and a new nursing pilot programme to support children is being put in place. New programmes have also been introduced to support the transition of children with special educational needs after school.

The Deputy should rest assured that the budget for the summer school programme overall remains the same. The number of schools looking to take part is growing and is up 300 on last year. I can tell the Deputy that I know a great deal about the summer school programme. I know how important it is to families. My family benefited from this programme. It is an incredible programme. It is one in respect of which we will continue to provide every support we possibly can. I do not need the Deputy to "Mary-Lou-splain" this issue to me. The Government supports the programme and will continue to do so. We should not be making a political football out of this issue.

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