Pa Daly (Kerry, Sinn Fein)

This is one of the most frustrating issues I am dealing with in County Kerry. It is clear that too many children are being denied their right to education. Parents are contacting me about this issue, including, recently, one parent who has been involved in education for 20 years. Her other children have gone through the system. It is with her youngest child that she has faced the system and the bureaucracy. She feels increasingly frustrated, despite having given every inch she has to obtain an early education class for her child. She is not succeeding and it is of great upset to her. This is a woman in the Killarney area. Other families also feel like there is no light at the end of the tunnel and that their children are being left behind and not getting as fair a chance as other children.

I raise the issue of early intervention for preschool autistic children, who would get a support teacher and an SNA. One child, who has profound needs, is non-verbal and needs 24-7 support, has recommendations from the NCSE and a SENO that he be offered a place but has been denied one in Killarney because none are available in County Kerry. What makes the situation even more frustrating is that there is a school, with the staff, the space and the support of the school principal, willing to establish the early intervention class in Killarney town, but this has been refused. More children are being locked out of appropriate education for yet another year. The people of Kerry are feeling let down because they see there are only two early intervention classes in the whole county. While I should not look at neighbouring counties, there are way more in those counties. Even one town neighbouring County Kerry has more early intervention classes than the whole of Kerry combined. It is not a very big town either.

When we drill down further into the figures, the situation is bleak. There are six places in each of County Kerry's two classes because many children need to stay on for a second year. The number of school places available at the start of every school year then becomes even smaller. This year, only three or four places were available for the whole county for 1 September 2025. It is not good enough to say this situation is being looked at and a place will be available next year. This is undoubtedly a nationwide crisis and no county has escaped, but the situation in Kerry seems way worse than anywhere else. Children are at a significant disadvantage. One would think the Government would be stepping up to the plate and ensuring the spaces are available early, because - as the mother told me and the research clearly demonstrates - early intervention vastly improves outcomes for children and can negate the need for classes at a later stage. I ask the Minister of State not to ignore them and the other classes in Castleisland, Castlemaine, Moyvane, which I asked the Minister of State about previously, and the Presentation Secondary School.

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