Mattie McGrath (Tipperary, Independent)
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Why the Minister of State at the Department of Education left? I mean no disrespect to the Minister of State, Deputy Malcolm Noonan. It is disappointing that neither the Minister or a Minister of State for education is here. It is such a serious area. There are huge concerns about special units in national schools in County Tipperary. In December 2023, Burncourt National School received a letter from the NCSE regarding a second autism class from September 2024. It invited enrolments and was ready to offer places last week but the Department has delayed approval of the modular accommodation stating that the NCSE had not sanctioned the class.

This class was sanctioned a number of months ago and six children were selected for places, but now the accommodation has been delayed. We need urgent approval of this accommodation. As the Tánaiste said this week, any school that has been approved should go ahead.

Scoil Mhuire, Caisleán Nua, my own national school, is the second one. In July 2017, Scoil Muire Newcastle was sanctioned for a first autism suite. Since then, this project has seen delay after delay and, as it stands, the report for stage 2 was submitted during the fourth quarter of 2023 and remains under review. I am led to believe there may be further issues. These delays are not acceptable. The school is extremely stuck for space and is renting a community hall, Tigh na nDaoine, from the local community. This is not satisfactory. The class was sanctioned almost seven years ago by the Department. The Department needs to stick to its side of the bargain, as do local communities, schools and boards of management, and provide this space as a matter of urgency. We need a full briefing on the situation here. It is not fair to the boards of management, the múinteoirí and the school communities in both cases, namely, Burncourt National School and the one in Caisleán Nua, that there has been such a breach of trust. They had NCSE approval and now we are being told they did not. The situation in Newcastle has gone back for review after review. We need clarity. Schools have enough to be doing running the schools. I salute the teachers and the boards of management that will take on these special classes. Some schools will not, but where they are willing and where the communities are willing to accept the students and provide the places, we should be jumping at the opportunity to take these school places.

Ruairi Ó Murchú (Louth, Sinn Fein)
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There seems to be a theme in the lack of ASD units and the interaction at times between the Department, the NCSE and schools. When people are looking for extensions, planning permission and so on, it becomes even more difficult. I have been approached by a number of parents looking for their kids to get into what they had hoped would be a second autism unit in De La Salle College in Dundalk. I will read out what these parents have been told. The school wrote to the parents of one child that, in respect of their enrolment application, it was, unfortunately, unable to accommodate their son because the Department had failed to provide the school with an adequate ASD modular unit.

Planning permission was submitted and was dealt with in July 2021 by Louth County Council. It is now with the Department, at stage 2B, and the NCSE has rightly put pressure on the school because it wanted an autism unit, so a teacher and a classroom were given up and the school took in a class in September 2023, although that class has to be made available back to the school for this September. A modular unit has been provided for that ASD class but there is no room for a modular unit for the planned second ASD class. Perhaps a double modular unit would have worked. I do not know. Either way, there is nothing in play.

We could all talk about the issues with planning permission and so on. I have also dealt with primary schools that expected enrolment to take place for ASD students last September and they are just hoping it can happen this September. We have a serious issue here but I do not know what I am going to say to these parents. I submitted a parliamentary question and the reply was not really an answer insofar as what happened and what the solution is.

Malcolm Noonan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Green Party)
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I thank the Deputies for the questions and for giving me an opportunity to outline how the Department of Education and the National Council for Special Education continue to support children with special educational needs. Enabling students with additional needs to receive an education appropriate to their needs is an ongoing priority for the Government. It is a priority to ensure all children have an appropriate school placement and that the necessary supports are provided to schools to cater for the needs of children with special educational needs. In 2024, €2.7 billion is being spent on special education, an increase of €113 million, which is dedicated to providing supports for children with special educational 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 NCSE has responsibility for co-ordinating and advising on the education provision for children with special educational needs nationwide. Over recent years, the Department and the NCSE have introduced a number of strategic initiatives to plan for and provide sufficient mainstream and special classes 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 on 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 in respect of forecasting demand for special class places, an analysis of available school accommodation, a consideration of improved data sharing arrangements and a special focus on the provision of special classes at post-primary level.

Along with two new special schools opening this school year, 390 new special classes, comprising 254 at primary and 136 at post-primary level, have been sanctioned by the NCSE for opening this school year. Of these, 18 are in Louth, comprising 12 at primary level and six at post-primary level, and 14 are in Tipperary, comprising five at primary and nine at post-primary level. This brings to 88 and 120, respectively, the numbers of special classes in each county.

Any school that seeks to open a special class or, indeed, a further class is to be commended. The efforts of schools in doing so are appreciated, but it may not be possible or appropriate to open classes in every school that expresses or has previously expressed an interest. Classes not sanctioned for this coming school year will remain as options should the need arise in later years. The Department, in conjunction with the NCSE, considers it prudent to maximise the use of existing accommodation in schools, within geographic areas, in the first instance. This consideration is prior to the establishment of any additional special class that may require additional accommodation, such as modular accommodation.

I will now provide an update on the specific schools the Deputies referred to. In respect of St. Michael’s Junior Boys School in Tipperary town, the NCSE advises the Department that this school expressed an interest in opening a special class and that there remain available special class places in established classes in Tipperary town and the wider area for the 2024-25 school year. The NCSE will continue to review this on an ongoing basis and will remain in contact at local level with the individual schools and, indeed, parents seeking a special class placement.

As for Burncourt National School in Cahir, the NCSE advises the Department that the school can now accommodate additional special class students within existing school accommodation for the coming school year. The need for any additional accommodation will be kept under review.

In the case of Scoil Mhuire in Newcastle, Clonmel, the Department approved a project under the additional school accommodation scheme for a special class. The project has been devolved for delivery to the school authority and it appointed a design team to oversee delivery of the project. Following difficulties experienced by the school in renting interim modular accommodation, the Department approved funding for the short-term rental of the local community hall. The Department also subsequently approved an application for an increased scope of the project to provide two special classes with central activity space. I am pleased to advise that the project has secured planning approval and the architectural report is being reviewed by the Department. The Department will continue to engage directly with the school to provide whatever practical assistance and advice are necessary to implement this important project for the wider school community.

I will follow up with information on the Dundalk project.

Mattie McGrath (Tipperary, Independent)
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What is happening with the NCSE and the Department is typical. Is there any joined-up thinking? St. Michael's Junior Boys School has been offering to open a class for the past two years but the NCSE has not approved it so far. It is imperative this be provided in a town the size of Tipperary, where five national schools are available and where a school has offered to accommodate them. I visited that school over the Easter holidays and met the principal. The Minister of State indicated in his reply that there is plenty of space within the school. If he saw the conditions in which teachers are trying to give special education, in a tiny room with four or five teachers boxed off with individual students, it is not fit for any more than one class, or two at most. The conditions they are trying to work in are terrible. A town the size of Tipperary needs this provision and the school is offering to provide it, so it should be helped.

As for the schools in Burncourt and Newcastle, I cannot believe the reply I got because they had approval. I do not understand, quite frankly, the Minister of State's response about the school in Newcastle in particular. He stated it has planning and that there is to be further engagement with the Department. We need these for September. There has been approval in the case of the Newcastle school since 2017. It is just not acceptable.

I am disappointed these two Topical Issues have been bundled together because we need a teasing-out of these problems at a more detailed level.

Ruairi Ó Murchú (Louth, Sinn Fein)
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There are multiple issues for multiple families throughout County Louth and the wider State.

The Minister of State has supplied me a written answer concerning De La Salle College. The planning permission for the main extension was given on 21 July. Will the Minister of State examine the issue? According to this answer, "The Stage 2b cost report was received by the Department in Q4 2024 and is currently being reviewed". Obviously, that is a mistake, although I do not know whether it should be quarter 4 of 2023 or something else. Regardless, this matter needs to be addressed. I will follow it up with the Minister, Deputy Foley, and the Minister of State, Deputy Higgins. I assume that the Minister of State, Deputy Noonan, will tell them that I am not happy in any way, shape or form. The five families in question have been given no answers and I have received no answers from the NCSE. There is general information about looking in Dunleer and Drogheda despite this issue relating to Dundalk. Talk to Deputy Munster and the other elected representatives from those areas, though, and they will say there is no room at the inn in any of the schools there. None of this is good enough and everything is behind time. We need this matter to be addressed to some degree. There are families being put through significant stress.

Malcolm Noonan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Green Party)
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Regarding De La Salle College in Dundalk, my understanding is that, last October, five students were accepted into its ASD unit for the semester starting in September 2023. However, on 26 March of this year, the school called to state it could no longer offer a place to any of the students. The reason given to parents was that the Department of Education was not providing the promised classroom.

Deputy Ó Murchú is correct about the typo in the date. It should read “Q4 2023”.

The Department will continue to work with the NCSE, particularly on planning for special classes and special school places in counties Louth and Tipperary and nationwide – this work is under way – ahead of the 2024-25 school year. The location of new classes for that year will be confirmed by the NCSE shortly. As demand for new special classes at post-primary level is expected to increase significantly over the next few years due to increasing demographics and prevalence rates, the Department and the NCSE have engaged with the post-primary stakeholders on the provision of special classes. The Department has communicated to post-primary schools nationwide about the need to begin planning to provide additional special classes. It is envisaged that all post-primary schools will be required to provide special classes over the next two to four years, with an approximate average of four special classes in each school. The Department will continue to support the NCSE and schools through the provision of the necessary funding and capital investment to ensure that all children are successful in accessing education.