Helen McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael)

I utterly reject the suggestion that parents are being gaslit. There has never been as much engagement with parents through the NSCE to support them. I accept that a small number of children still do not have their places. We are working on that. We will work all summer to make sure they have their places allocated to them. Parents and schools are being engaged with throughout all of this. The Department and the NCSE are working with schools. I acknowledge the many schools that are providing additional places, classrooms and capacity, even as we speak. The 400 new classes have now become 407. It is absolutely the case that in some areas where schools have been sanctioned for perhaps two classrooms, it is now one or even one classroom and it is not needed. That is simply on the basis that, in the context of the overall level need, a decision was taken that it was not necessary. That is not to say that next year a school might not be approved and, obviously, the classroom would open.

It is important that we are able to plan. That is why the deadline is there. It does not mean that children outside of the deadline are going to be excluded. If we have to put a structure in place to make sure that we have a good sense of exactly what the need is, where children should be and where their local schools are, however, that is the most important thing outside of all of this. We will be working all summer. The NCSE is working over the summer to make sure that every child will have their place for September.

See this speech in context