Mairéad Farrell (Galway West, Sinn Fein)
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I thank the Minister of State, Deputy Naughton, for taking this matter. It impacts on the constituency we share, so I thought it would be good and appropriate to raise it with her. I have been contacted by a parent who is worried about her child’s special language class and is concerned it will not go ahead next year. As the Minister of State will be well aware, this is a fantastic class for children in the area. This child was supposed to attend it for two years but it now looks as though it will be cut in the middle of its first year. The parent has been advised that, instead, the child will be put into the community caseload, which realistically means they will get speech and language therapy for 40 minutes a week for about 25 weeks of the year, when everything is now being done through speech and language therapy. Obviously, this is an issue of great concern for parents who are impacted. Some parents are travelling more than 20 km to get to the school to be able to avail of this class, which will have an impact on being able to avail of the school bus and so on if the matter does not come to a conclusion in the short term. The parent is especially concerned that the further this goes into the summer months, the longer it will take to get some kind of a resolution, given the nature of things is that as we come into the summer months, more people will be on leave and so on.

Hildegarde Naughton (Galway West, Fine Gael)
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I thank the Deputy. Enabling students with additional needs to receive an education appropriate to their needs is an ongoing priority for me as Minister of State with responsibility for special education. It is a priority to ensure all children have an appropriate school placement and that the necessary supports are provided to our schools to cater for the needs of children with special educational needs. As the Deputy will be aware, the Department provides an extensive range of supports for pupils with specific speech and language disorder, SSLD. This includes provision for the establishment of special classes for pupils with SSLD in primary schools. There is currently a total of 63 SSLD special classes in mainstream primary schools nationally and they have a teacher-student ratio of 1:7.

The HSE provides speech and language therapy to the students in these classes and, therefore, the opening and retention of an SSLD class is contingent on the availability of HSE resources. For this reason, close engagement and co-ordination occurs among stakeholders at a local level. This issue was raised with me in Galway and I spoke to my colleague the Minister of State, Deputy Rabbitte, about the school and the HSE meeting to resolve it. It is critical that it be resolved.

I can confirm the HSE’s local team and school management met yesterday. The purpose of the meeting, which was supported by the National Council for Special Education, NCSE, was to allow both the school and the HSE to talk through the issues with a view to working towards reinstating the class for the coming school year. The NCSE has advised the Department that this was a constructive meeting and that all parties are willing to work to ensure the class remains in operation for the coming school year. A further meeting is being planned between all parties. The NCSE will continue to support the school and the HSE to progress matters, particularly in respect of the review of applications for admission to the class. The class has been in operation since 1995 and I hope it can continue to provide much-needed supports for students of the local area. I acknowledge the many years of support provided by both the school staff and the local HSE speech and language therapists for students accessing this class over almost three decades.

In the context of the provision of special education places more broadly, I understand this is an anxious time for parents who are seeking a school place for their child for September and I assure the Deputy and parents that the Government and I are determined to alleviate the pressures faced by parents when seeking a special educational placement.

My Department engages intensely with the NCSE in respect of the forward planning of new special classes and additional special school places. More than 320 special classes have already been sanctioned for the 2024-25 school year. Of these, 19 are located in County Galway. The NCSE continues to sanction some additional classes nationwide for the coming school year. As these classes are sanctioned, the NCSE will support families to make applications for places. I have asked the NCSE to ensure that classes are established as a matter of urgency and to keep all the families seeking class places updated on an ongoing basis to ensure their children can access the provision to which they are entitled.

Mairéad Farrell (Galway West, Sinn Fein)
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I thank the Minister of State. I welcome her constructive message and the fact there has already been a meeting. I hope another meeting will resolve this issue. Everybody would like to see this class being set up. Parents are concerned, which is completely understandable. We all know what it is like once we get into the summer months. There are concerns that parents would not get the support at that stage. The reality is that families can see how beneficial this class is for their children. That is probably the crux of the matter. Parents feel it is important to keep support for their children in place. The fact that it was supposed to be available for two years and that it is going to be cut after one year is an issue of serious concern for families. What the Minister of State said is very welcome. I welcome the fact that she is prioritising this matter, is focused on it and is going to keep in touch with the relevant stakeholders to ensure that, hopefully, we get this over the line. Ultimately, we need to make sure that we give our children the best possible future and opportunities to allow them to realise their potential. For the children in question, this is something that has been proven very beneficial.

Hildegarde Naughton (Galway West, Fine Gael)
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I thank the Deputy. We are in agreement on the need to resolve this issue. I have full faith that the school and the HSE will come to an amicable agreement. I will ask my Department officials to continue to engage with the NCSE and to monitor the issue. The NCSE is available to support the school and the HSE local team in resolving the issues at play here. The local SENO also has acted as mediator between the school and the HSE in order to try to remedy the situation.