Conor Sheehan (Limerick City, Labour)

I thank the Minister for the response. I will touch on some of the points she made. Schools are very concerned that they are not sufficiently funded to open new special classes. There are issues with space, staffing, resources and appropriate sensory spaces, among other things. The majority of our traditional schools do not have the appropriate facilities for spaces that they need, like sensory spaces, to enable children with additional needs to thrive in a mainstream environment.

I am slightly concerned about the common application system being seen as a panacea. It has been in place for secondary schools in Limerick for more than 20 years, and we consistently have an issue every year with schoolchildren not getting places.

Regarding the provision of in-school therapists, a number of principals in Limerick have told me they are concerned about the number of in-school therapists proposed. I note there is a pilot coming for Limerick and Tipperary this year. One principal told me he is slightly worried they could be too sparsely spread and there is a concern they may see the in-school therapist maybe one day a week over three weeks. That is what principals have told me.

In the time remaining to me, I will talk about the principal of St. Michael’s Infant School in Limerick, Tracie Tobin, and the fact that her SET hours were cut by 12.5 this year. This school, one of only five schools in the country whose SET hours have been cut, is in one of the most deprived areas in the entire country. Ms Tobin has 127 children on her books. It is a DEIS band 1 school and it needs the highest level of support. This very successful infant school has fewer SET hours now than it had five years ago when it had half the number of children. As an infant school, many of the children are Covid children and may not have had developmental checks. They are on waiting lists for assessments of need. The school has many Ukrainian and international protection pupils, who, as we all know, can arrive on a rolling basis throughout the year. The enrolment number on 30 September, at the cut-off date, is often lower than the number at the end of the year. The Department uses the number on 30 September for the school's SET allocation.

Ms Tobin also very concerned that results from standardised testing are being used as one of the criteria. The school must return these results for second, fourth and sixth class but because it is an infant school, these classes do not exist. These are being used as part of the criteria to support the school's special education hours. As this is an infant school, the results from adjacent schools are being used but the children in Ms Tobin's school do not necessarily continue to these schools.

There is also an issue with number of children who have been diagnosed with ASD. A special class was recommended but the school was too late to apply as the closing date had passed. These children are in mainstream and require and deserve the highest level of support. The school does not have the space for them in the special class.

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