Matt Carthy (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein)
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I thank the Minister of State, Deputy Madigan, for being here. A few weeks ago I hosted a disability forum and invited Sinn Féin's spokespeople on health and disabilities, Deputies Cullinane and Tully, to come and hear directly from parents, families and people with disabilities in County Monaghan. I invited a number of people I had worked with who had come to me requesting support in their battles with the HSE, CDNTs and the NCSE. I expected a good proportion of those I contacted to make an effort to attend, but I was not expecting the huge turnout on the night. Over 100 families were present. They came from every corner of the county and a few travelled from outside. They were from every walk of life and of every political persuasion. Some had organised babysitters and carers and others had taken time off work. It was clear this was a group of people who had stories that needed to be heard and they were looking for somebody - anybody - to listen. The stories we heard that evening were harrowing and in stark contrast to the narrative we often hear conveyed by the Government in this House. Parent after parent - mostly mothers, it must be said - told of their unrelenting battles to get the services their children need. The young mother who opened proceedings, Gráinne McElvaney, gave a very detailed and passionate address. Her words, almost exactly, were that parents of children with disabilities in County Monaghan are forced to fight every single day.

Two issues emerged as the dominant themes of that meeting. The first was the need for an overnight respite service for children with disabilities in County Monaghan. As the Minister of State will be aware, I have raised that matter with the Minister of State, Deputy Rabbitte, on numerous occasions here and will continue to do so. The second issue is the one I bring to the present Minister of State, namely, the need for a special school in County Monaghan. Just as with respite care, Monaghan is a forgotten county. We do not have a special school; instead, children are forced to and expected to travel to the special school in Cavan, which has the highest standards and reputation. We heard absolutely harrowing stories of children with profound needs being forced to travel on a bus for obscene lengths of time in order to get to school. In at least one instance, a child will have this morning spent longer on the bus getting to school than I spent travelling here from Carrickmacross. Another child is at home today, as they have been all this school term, because transport to the special school in Cavan has not been put in place at all despite numerous appeals to the NCSE to get it sorted. Many other children from County Monaghan are not having their education needs met at all because the school in Cavan is beyond capacity.

Nobody who has appraised the situation objectively - nobody, that is, except the Government and the NCSE - is in any doubt that a special school in County Monaghan will be immediately filled. I have submitted numerous parliamentary questions to the Minister since 2022 urging the development of a special school in County Monaghan and in each case I have received a very lengthy response but no actual answer.

Typically, the exact words used are as follows:

In relation to provision in Monaghan, I want to reassure the Deputy that both my Department and the NCSE will continue to monitor and review the need for further new special schools.

That does not reassure me. It certainly does not reassure the families in County Monaghan who are crying out for a school that can cater for their children's needs. I hope the Minister of State can tell me today that she acknowledges the need for a special school in County Monaghan and that she will instruct the NCSE to deliver it as a matter of urgency.

Josepha Madigan (Dublin Rathdown, Fine Gael)
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I thank the Deputy for the question. This is something that the Minister, Deputy Humphreys, and Senator Joe O'Reilly have brought to my attention as well. Deputy Carthy is correct when he says there is no special school at present in County Monaghan. He mentioned the special school in County Cavan, which I understand is full. However, there are several special schools in the environs of Monaghan. From my conversations with the CEO of the NCSE, John Kearney, I am assured that provision will be made for all children who require a special school place for September of this year. In regard to the following years, the forward planning we have put in place over recent years tells the NCSE where a child needs a place, whether that is a school place or a special class, not just in Monaghan but throughout the country.

We have made huge progress in the number of special schools we are creating. We now have 130 special schools in the country. Two special schools have been established for the current school year in Cork and Dublin, with further capacity being expanded in other special schools throughout the country. We have 3,000 special classes in total, of which 1,300 were sanctioned this year. We have also opened seven new special schools over the past four years. We are doing a huge amount of work in that regard. The budget we have is €2.7 billion. It is important we put that funding into making sure every child with an additional need has an appropriate placement. Some 97% of them are in mainstream classes. That is not to say there is not a need overall in Monaghan. The question of where special schools are needed, where the capacity is, where the demand is and where they should be located is consistently under the control of and under review by the NCSE. There is a progressive demand. I believe the NCSE would accept that. In 2023, some 0.55% of the population - less than 1% - required a special school place. The projected figure for 2025 is 0.64%. There is a definite upward trend. That is not just in County Monaghan. It is throughout the country. Some of that, although not all, is due to the exponential growth in autism, which is seen not just in Ireland but internationally.

The Deputy mentioned the word "reassure". I can reassure him that there will be existing provision and that we will meet the demand for 2024. I can tell him today that a special school is being considered by the NCSE for north Monaghan in terms of autism and complex needs. It is really important to me as Minister of State with responsibility for special education and inclusion that I liaise closely with the NCSE and that I know what is happening on the ground. We gave the NCSE an extra €113 million last year. It will be able to employ 160 new staff. We had SENOs, but not in sufficient numbers. They were completely overwhelmed and overloaded. There will now be more SENOs. They will be able to liaise directly with parents in a better way than before and, in turn, communicate those needs to the NCSE. In that way, they will be able to find the appropriate school placements that are being sought by parents

Matt Carthy (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein)
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I know the people in the NCSE work incredibly hard and provide a huge service for a growing number of children. However, forward planning always leaves much to be desired. I have dealt with schools that have made approaches to the NCSE to offer their schools to accommodate special classes. The NCSE has said that there has to be a demand and that it takes a number of years. By the time the class is actually open, the demand far outstrips what is available. I deal with numerous families in County Monaghan who today, in March, do not know whether their child will have a place in a school next September. That is not tolerable and not fair.

In regard to a need for a special school, I appreciate the Minister of State's remarks. She diverged from the written response that was sent to us, which simply repeats the line about reassuring us that all options will be considered. If I heard correctly, she said that the option of a special school in Monaghan is under active consideration. Which is it? Is it under active consideration? Will the Minister of State give an assurance that it will be pursued actively so that we can ensure the children who need this service will get it? My fear is that there will be a big announcement that a special school is coming, but a lengthy period of time will pass before it is actually delivered. That is not what is required. The children who need this special school today need it. They do not need to be promised that another generation will have that facility. I appeal to the Minister of State. I reassure her that I will continue to raise this matter at every opportunity until we have a special school delivered in County Monaghan. I want the Government to work with all representatives in the constituency to ensure we deliver what children with profound disabilities in Monaghan need, what their parents are telling us they need and what everybody who has looked at this objectively says is needed: a special school for County Monaghan to build on the services that are provided by the Holy Family Special School in County Cavan.

Josepha Madigan (Dublin Rathdown, Fine Gael)
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I thank the Deputy. I concur with much of what he says. Of course we want children to be placed appropriately. If there are children in County Monaghan who do not have a special school place, we need to find them a special school place. I can say, from my direct conversation with the NCSE, that there will be placements for those children in September 2024. I have been assured of that. In regard to the future, I mentioned the forward planning. There is active engagement on this. There is active consideration in relation to a special school. I mentioned the increase in the autism prevalence rate within the population. That indicates clearly that there is going to be a growing demand for the service. I speak to the NCSE in relation to this, as does the Department. The NCSE regional teams have weekly meetings to discuss this. As I said, we have opened seven special schools over the past four years. We are not shy about doing that. Where there is provision-----

Matt Carthy (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein)
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That is no comfort to the families in Monaghan.

Josepha Madigan (Dublin Rathdown, Fine Gael)
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It is under consideration. If I can just correct the record, I should have said that the NCSE was given €13 million for the 160 staff.