Réada Cronin (Kildare North, Sinn Fein)
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Gabhaim buíochas leis an Leas-Cheann Comhairle agus leis an Aire Stáit as ucht glacadh leis an saincheist inniu. I also thank the office for facilitating the change for me. I know the work that goes into those procedures so I appreciate that. Ba mhaith liom comhghairdeas a ghabháil leis an Aire Stáit as an bpost nua freisin. Ar a laghad do ghlac sé leis an bpost nuair a dhiúltaigh Fine Gael dó. I am not sure what the Irish for stepping into the breach is but maith thú.

As I hope you know, there has been much talk and expectation of a second autism class opening in Scoil Mhuire secondary school in Clane. Parents have been told that the funds and staff have been approved and that all is needed now is the modular building. There is a serious need for this building, with parents hunting for places for their autistic children right up to the borders of the county of Kildare, and they are told to do that. They are told to hunt for spaces to the borders of the county and beyond, indeed. That is after they spend years on waiting lists for assessment of needs. They just feel like they are waiting, waiting and waiting. It is all interconnected. We need more joined-up thinking so that autistic children and their families do not spend their lives waiting for things that are theirs by right as citizens of our State. Despite all of this, in Clane, the delay and, just as worrying, the departmental silence continue. There is departmental silence to the school, parents and to the National Council for Special Education. Parents are disgusted, really angry and disbelieving. They feel invisible and that their children are invisible, as though they are screaming into the official void. Although they are interviewed in the papers and on the radio and the whole community hears them, they feel the Department of Education is not listening. They are not numbers, they are people, boys and girls and their families, their mothers and fathers. It cannot be a question of money so it has to be, and it feels to them like it is, a question of priority. As for a modular build in this school for these autistic children in north Kildare, they feel they are not a governmental priority.

This is in the context of a major problem in north Kildare with a lack of school places generally. St. Farnan's in Prosperous is also looking for extra space. Maynooth got two new school buildings and one brand-new school, which are already at capacity. It is hard to believe that in north Kildare, with Intel up the road powering half the computers of the world, we have kids who should be in their first year of school relying on home tuition that is completely insufficient. They get six or nine hours a week. In one case, a child is deeply unhappy at boarding school because there is no place at all locally. We have the Convent of Mercy school in Naas, which just got the go-ahead for the finishing of its interior. This comes after years of having a brand new school that was not fitted out. It got the letter of intent this morning and is pleased about that, to give credit where it is due.

People do not believe their child has no school place until it happens to them. They just expect that the Department will know that the figures are there and that it has the information when the children are born. They have the children's allowance and expect that the school places will be there. Even grandparents are saying to me that it is incredible in this day and age that there are no school places. They believe it is backwards we are going. One lovely boy who desperately needs his place in that modular classroom is named Alex. His mother is his champion. She has to be because the Government is ignoring him. It is a really simple issue, easy to do and easy to resolve. Will the Minister of State please tell me whether the new modular building will be ready for September? Will autistic students relying on and needing this have their dedicated place?

Thomas Byrne (Meath East, Fianna Fail)
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I thank the Deputy for raising the issue. Gabhaim buíochas léi as a dhea-ghuí chugam ar mo cheapacháin mar Aire Stáit le freagracht as an nGaeltacht. She raised an important question. I acknowledge how important it is.

What is said in the supplementary information, which is that people are told to hunt throughout the county, should not be said. Students with additional needs, need to receive an education appropriate to their needs. That is an ongoing priority for the Government and indeed for me and my colleagues, the Ministers, Deputies Norma Foley and Hildegarde Naughton. It is a priority to ensure that all children have an appropriate school placement and the necessary supports are provided for schools to cater for the needs of children with special education needs.

In 2024, €2.7 billion is being spent on special education. This is an increase of €113 million, which is dedicated to providing supports for children with special education needs. This will allow for, among other things, the opening of up to 400 new special classes in mainstream schools and 300 additional special school places. The National Council for Special Education, NCSE, has responsibility for co-ordinating and advising on the education provision for children with special educational needs nationwide. Over the past number of years, the Department and the NCSE have introduced a number of strategic initiatives to plan for and provide sufficient mainstream, special class and special school places. These initiatives are bearing fruit with more than 1,300 new special classes sanctioned and seven new special schools established over the past four years.

The Department engages intensively with the NCSE regarding the forward planning of new special classes and additional special school places. This forward planning work is well under way ahead of the 2024-25 school year. The work involves a detailed review of statistical data related to forecasting demand for special school places. As a result of forward planning, two special schools have been established this year in Cork and Dublin, with further capacity being expanded in 11 other schools. In December 2023, the Department announced the establishment of a further four new special schools for the 2024-25 school year in counties Meath, Kildare, Wexford and Limerick. In County Meath, the school is on the County Kildare border. This will bring to 11 the number of new special schools established nationwide in recent years.

The new special school for Kildare will be under the patronage of Kildare and Wicklow Education and Training Board, ETB. The initial start-up location for the new special school in Kildare will be at the Craddockstown Education Campus beside Naas Community National School. The longer-term location will be confirmed in due course. The admission process for the school is under way and the school will cater for 24 students initially. Initial staffing arrangements have been sanctioned for the school, with recruitment under way.

Along with the two new special schools opening this school year, 390 new special classes, including 254 at primary and 136 at post-primary level, have been sanctioned by the NCSE. Of these, 12 are in Kildare, seven at primary level and five at post-primary level. That means there are now 116 special classes in County Kildare.

The Deputy references the issue of additional special classes in north Kildare specifically. I assure her that both the Department and the NCSE continue to monitor and review the need for further new special classes in the coming months and years. In regard to the school referred to by the Deputy, a building project for the provision of five mainstream classrooms, two science labs and four special classes has been approved by the Department. The project is devolved to the school authority for delivery and is at stage 2a. Modular accommodation was also approved to support the opening of the first special class in 2022.

The Department has close engagement with the NCSE, which has responsibility for co-ordinating and advising on the education provision for children nationwide. When the NCSE sanctions a special class in a school, the school can apply to the Department for capital funding to reconfigure existing spaces. I assure the Deputy that the Department is working to ensure there is appropriate school accommodation in place to meet the school place needs of every child. In the first instance, this is focused on using existing school accommodation. When additional capacity is needed, this can be provided. The NCSE has advised the Department that there are currently four special classes opened in the Prosperous-Clane school planning area. The Department and the NCSE are committed to ensuring that sufficient special placements are available for children for this school year and for future years.

Réada Cronin (Kildare North, Sinn Fein)
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I thank the Minister of State. I get the parliamentary questions replies all the time. I send them out to the parents who have children waiting for places and they tell me they are sick to the teeth of the replies. I am embarrassed to send them. They call them copy-and-paste replies. The school place action committee in Clane is a force to be reckoned with. It tells me that it sees through this, how there is nothing the Department cannot or will not do until it comes to actually doing it. It just takes so long and children grow up so fast.

On the general places, we hear all the time that the Minister is assuring parents that their child will have a school place. There is a special concentration on County Kildare at the moment. We were lucky to have a meeting with officials regarding the Department's school buildings programme but there is a serious need for more places in County Kildare. Therefore, however many are provided, we need more, because assurance of a place is not action to deliver that, when they have seen that certain children have been let down. Autistic children in particular are in a precarious position. Parents have to campaign for places in so-called mainstream school. Extreme ability is required of the parents of autistic children who are already hanging on by a thread waiting for everything. If the Minister of State met these parents, he would see the worry etched on their faces and hear the disbelief in their voices. I am in favour of collaborative politics and four north Kildare Deputies are working hard on the issue in Castletown. I am prepared to do that as well for the modular classroom in Scoil Mhuire and all school places. Generally, I am very happy to work with them but childhood is a tiny space; it goes by so quickly. Parents and grandparents talk to me about their worries that their child is not going to get the special place needed. Will the Minister of State please sort out the classroom for these children?

Thomas Byrne (Meath East, Fianna Fail)
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I will certainly bring those concerns again to the Minister but I reiterate that enabling students with additional needs to receive the appropriate education is an absolute priority of the Government. Every child must have his or her appropriate school place. This year, €2.7 billion is being spent on special education, which is a massive increase in recent years. This will allow this year for the opening of up to 400 new special classes in mainstream schools and 300 additional special school places including in County Kildare and indeed in my own county on the Kildare border as well. I am confident this issue will be resolved. The officials in our Department will work hard to make sure it is resolved. The parents can take that message very seriously indeed.