Fiona O'Loughlin (Kildare South, Fianna Fail)
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I had the opportunity last week at the meeting of the education committee to wish the Minister well in his new position. I reaffirm that now. In fact, on the Saturday the Minister was appointed I was driving to the conference of the National Parents Council, at which I was due to speak, and when I heard the news I pulled in and sent him an email to wish him well and to raise the situation I will outline here.

It is an absolute disgrace in this day and age that six children with special needs are being denied their constitutional right to education in their home town. I will put the children's names on the record. They are Kelly Semple, Josh O'Shea, James Tiernan, Latoyah Bowers, Jason Moran and Jack Reilly. These children received an excellent education in a special autism spectrum disorder, ASD, unit in Scoil Na Naomh Uilig in Newbridge. Some 18 months ago when we collectively discussed the next steps in this regard it suddenly dawned on the Department of Education and Skills that no provision had been made at the next level for when these children would leave the ASD unit. There were many conversations, meetings, telephone calls and emails. In fact, I brought the parents to an education committee meeting which was dealing with the area of special educational needs in order that they could have an understanding of how we deal with these issues.

Nine weeks after 1 September, when the children were told they would have a place in St. Conleth's Community College, Newbridge, they have not had an hour or a day of education. If the shoe were on the other foot and the children were not going to school, the State and the Department would bring their parents to court for non-attendance at school.

The delays in opening the extension of the St. Conleth’s community college and the delay in opening the autistic spectrum, ASD, unit are directly impacting on the education of the children who are waiting and on their families. They are not the school's fault. All children, including children with special educational needs, have a right to an education that is appropriate to their needs. Education should be about enabling all children, in line with their abilities, to live full and independent lives so that they can contribute to their communities, co-operate with other people and continue to learn throughout their lives.

These six children, however, are yet to start their school year, despite commitments that were made in January 2018. At a meeting in January, the parents were told by a principal officer of the Department of Education and Skills who is in charge of special education provision, and by the head of operations for the National Council for Special Education, NCSE, that if there was a delay, alternative accommodation would be in place by 1 September. This has not happened. It is an absolute disgrace. The parents feel very let down by the system, which I can understand. The system was meant to support and nurture their children. I am aware that this morning the Kildare and Wicklow Education and Training Board, KWETB, lodged an application with Kildare County Council to open part of the ground floor extension. This, however, can take up to another three weeks, which leaves us well into November. It is completely unacceptable that these children are still waiting to start school. They still have no date on which they can start school, there is still no alternative accommodation put in place and there is no home tuition in place. That commitment was fully given in January in respect of the six children.

Joe McHugh (Donegal, Fine Gael)
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I shall go straight into the substantive issue of the reply. There is a preamble around the general allocation of money in this sector. The NCSE is aware of emerging need from year to year, and where special provision is required in an area, it is planned and provided for. The NCSE sanctioned a new special class in St. Conleth's community college to meet the identified needs of students in Kildare, and the relevant teaching and SNA support has been allocated to the school. To this end, the Department is providing a stand-alone extension to the community college in Newbridge. This extension will provide 4,602 sq. m of additional accommodation, including a PE hall and 552 sq. m of accommodation for children with special needs, to complement the existing 3,072 sq. m building.

The Deputy will be aware that the Department devolved the project for delivery to the KWETB. The contractor was appointed for the project in October 2015. Unfortunately, the project was significantly delayed primarily as a result of contractual issues. Though progress has been less than satisfactory throughout the project, I am pleased that the building work on this project is now complete. The Deputy will be aware of this from her conversations with the KWETB this morning. A small number of snagging and defects issues that remained to be rectified and that prevented the extension being ready in time for 1 September have now been addressed. Additionally, some further drainage issues that emerged and which led to a further delay in the completion of the project have been resolved.

I acknowledge how disappointing these difficulties have been for the school community, including the pupils and parents concerned. It is, however, in the nature of any building project that unforeseen issues can arise. The objective is always to deal with these as quickly as possible to minimise delay and this has been the focus of KWETB and its design team. When a building is completed, certifications for the constituent components are required to be registered with the local authority for the purposes of demonstrating that the building complies with building control regulations. This was done yesterday. The local authority is required to turn this around within three weeks. After hearing of the Deputy's intervention, I would implore if possible that the turnaround time be brought into a more realistic timeframe. The schools rise at the end of this week and they will then have the week off. To give parents a bit of certainty on the issue I would like to see that happen. I am aware there is a three-week turnaround, and if this is possible I would certainly support that.

KWETB is actively communicating with the key stakeholders in respect of this project. The school management is in regular contact with the parents concerned to keep them informed of progress with the project and met with them recently in that context.

Fiona O'Loughlin (Kildare South, Fianna Fail)
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I thank the Minister. I appreciate his good intentions in this regard. He referred to school places and supports being planned for and being provided but the kernel to this is that these places were not planned for and were not provided. Last January a sticking plaster was applied to the problem. The problem is going to escalate in the area. As of last year, we only had 18 places that were suitable or available for children with special needs who were leaving mainstream primary schools. In this situation another three weeks means it will have been 12 weeks - three months - during which these children were without any type of education. This is completely wrong. The impacts for any child of staying out of education for this length of time can have lasting effects on their progress in school and on learning. This especially applies to children with special educational needs. To be fair, I am aware that the Minister has only been in office for one week but officials in his office had told the parents that alternative accommodation would be in place by 1 November. We are now at 23 October and we have heard nothing about that, and now it is to be pushed back another three weeks.

Last week, a reply to a parliamentary question I tabled stated: "In the meantime, the National Council for Special Education (NCSE) is continuing to work with the school and the parents to ensure that the appropriate supports are in place, including application for home tuition." No supports whatsoever have been put in place for these six children or their parents. This is absolutely and completely wrong. Home tuition is a poor substitute for children who are used to attending school. It amounts to only a maximum of nine hours per week. From day one, we have said that this was not going to be acceptable. Alternative avenues must be considered to have these children in the classroom to ensure that the impact on their education is minimal. Let this be a lesson going forward to the Department and to the Minister with regard to other situations like this around the country. It is simply not good enough.

Joe McHugh (Donegal, Fine Gael)
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I agree that this is an important issue. Every child and every young person deserves access to education and has a right to that education. I do not know the specifics about what was offered or if the home school tuition was offered. For the record, up to 20 hours can be made available for home tuition. I do not know why that was not taken up or why it was not organised. We can explore that further, but up to 20 hours a week can be provided for home school tuition. If the council has to take that three weeks, and if we need it in place for the week after Halloween and it be arranged, I will be happy to facilitate that. As the Deputy has rightly pointed out, that does not compensate for the physical building and being in a space with their peers. People may feel isolated enough because of certain situations and to be learning with their peers is where they want to be, first and foremost. I am happy to stay in touch with the Deputy on this matter.