Gary Gannon (Dublin Central, Social Democrats)

I am really happy to hear that a meeting has taken place between the Department and the school, Casa Caterina. It is incredible. I walked into that school about a month ago and, to my own shame and detriment, I did not actually know the school existed. Then I walked up to the shut gates. They open up and you are initially met by the kids who are playing in the playground. Who you meet are 36 children for whom mainstream education was very clearly not built. You see they had to remove themselves from the supports of DEIS and then are placed in an environment where there is so much care among the staff and so much general goodwill. You just see, in that instance, the absence of State intervention, which I thought was a real shame. These 36 young people who were failed by our education system will also become 36 adults. Without the proper interventions that are simply being asked for by this school, the issues become far more complex and the challenges become more profound. I really think it is these locations that we must flood with supports. The idea that these 36 children were having supports removed from them because of the complex nature of their emotional and regulatory functions was so eye-opening for me. I really appreciate the fact that the Department has now met with the school. I hope schools such as Casa Caterina are prioritised rather than almost devalued or demoted based on the complexity of the issues they face every day. I bring this to the Chamber because I was definitely shocked by what I discovered there. There are amazing staff and incredible kids but a genuine lack of State intervention. I was not aware of the school but once you become conscious of it you cannot but commit yourself to trying to make it better. I hope the Department officials who have met the school staff in the last couple of days will also take that on board. I thank the Minister of State for her contribution.

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