Pa Daly (Kerry, Sinn Fein)
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106. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills for an update on resourcing for students with special educational needs in Kerry; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [17089/25]

Pa Daly (Kerry, Sinn Fein)
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Is mian liom ceist a chur ar an Aire mar gheall ar acmhainní do leanaí i gCiarraí a bhfuil riachtanais speisialta oideachais acu. Mar is eol don Aire, tá uathachas ar 5% de leanaí in Éirinn faoi láthair. The percentage of children with autism has increased threefold in the past decade, with one in every 20 children diagnosed with autism. The education system must adapt to reflect this fact. According to the National Council for Special Education, the number of special education classes in County Kerry will need to increase substantially in order to keep pace.

Michael Moynihan (Cork North-West, Fianna Fail)
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I thank the Deputy for raising this question. I was in Kerry and visited a number of the special schools there in recent weeks. I visited Nano Nagle Special School in Listowel, St. Francis Special School in Beaufort and St. Ita's and St. Joseph's Primary and Post-Primary Special School in Tralee. These were very insightful visits and showed the tremendous work being done by principals, teachers, SNAs, boards of management and the wider school communities in each area.

Each of the schools demonstrated superb leadership in how they can support and deliver for children with additional needs. There was such a positive supportive environment in each of the schools and I want to put on record my appreciation for the work all of these schools are doing, which was clearly evident on our visit. It also gave me first-hand insight into the many challenges the schools can face, which we hope to address in the coming years.

Various pieces of work are under way to further enhance how we support children with additional educational needs throughout the country, including Kerry. There are four special educational needs organisers operating solely in Kerry while 44 psychologists are providing support to children in primary, post-primary and special schools throughout region 5, which covers counties Cork, Kerry and Clare.

As the Deputy will be aware, significant funding has been provided in successive budgets for a substantial increase of staffing in the NCSE and the National Educational Psychological Service. Both services are critical to students with special educational needs.

In recent years we have been steadily building on our special needs teacher and SNA posts. Budget 2025 provides for an additional 768 special education teachers and 1,600 SNA posts. This will mean that by the end of this year we will have more than 44,000 professionals dedicated to supporting children with special educational needs in our education system. To put this in perspective, there has been an increase of 22% in the number of teachers and a 32% increase in the number of SNAs since 2020.

Pa Daly (Kerry, Sinn Fein)
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Today is Karen O'Flaherty's tenth birthday. Karen is autistic and she has dyspraxia and EBD. She and her family moved from Navan to Moyvane in north Kerry during Covid, where she attends Murhur national school. Karen is eligible for place in a special class but at present is in classes with students from other years, including her sister Ellie May. She feels frustrated with the sensory overload. The school and her mother feel her needs would be best served in an ASD unit, a safe place within the school to allow her to receive the best education to which she is entitled. She would not be as burnt out in an ASD unit. Without it, it would be difficult for her to complete primary education but the school has not been sanctioned for one. If an ASD unit were granted, she may also not need the other therapies for which her parents pay €180 per week. Her school has an appropriate building and a vacant classroom. The principal, Finola Fogarty, wishes to establish a special class to cater for children in the area, and four other students, including siblings of current students, would use the unit in September. No other school in north-east Kerry has such a facility. Other schools in Kerry have a special class but the closest one is full. It does not make sense.

It does not make sense that local children have to travel long distances, even outside of the county, for an education that could be provided in a local school. It does not make sense that Karen should have to move schools when the NCSE states the primary objective of special education provision is to enable students with special needs to participate fully and to be included in all aspects of school life and to be provided with equal opportunities to achieve their potential, regardless of their background or abilities.

Rose Conway-Walsh (Mayo, Sinn Fein)
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In February, I submitted a parliamentary question regarding resources for students with mild to moderate learning difficulties accessing level 2 learning programmes, L2LPs, and level 1 learning programmes, L1LPs, in mainstream classes. I received a reply but the real issue was deflected.

The key question here is whether the Department of Education will allocate hours to schools in order to resource the teaching of L2LP or L1LP. At the moment, it is taken out of the pool of SET hours. I will give an example of one student in a school with eight hours per week of one-to-one learning phonics and alternative words. The reality is that L2LP and L1LP programmes need allocation of hours similar to the LCA programme, which is where schools receive half a teacher. The number of students may be low, but they are high in need.

I will revert on this matter.

Thomas Gould (Cork North-Central, Sinn Fein)
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The Minister of State made a point about school places in Cork and Kerry. We have schools that are looking to put in ASD classes. They are crying out for ASD classes. Scoil Eoin in Ballincollig is looking to put them in, but it cannot. It has no room. It is waiting on a rebuild. It looks like Scoil Barra in Ballincollig will be offered prefabs. It has land it wants to build on to put in ASD classes. We have the Padre Pio school in Churchfield, one of the best schools for integration between mainstream and ASD classes. It has taught special and additional needs children in prefabs for 15 years. These are the most vulnerable children we have, yet here we are with the Minister of State listing out everything the Government is doing. I have a list in Cork of people who are looking for places for their children and they cannot get them.

Michael Moynihan (Cork North-West, Fianna Fail)
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I thank the Deputies for the questions. I turn first to the issue in north-east Kerry. I have no difficulty in taking the details from the Deputy and following through on the specific issues.

On Deputy Gould's point, the NCSE has been looking at the number of pupils who have come forward. The closing date was in February. We are doing everything humanly possible to make sure there are classes available. I am aware of some of the schools that have put forward names and that would accept classes, but we are trying to match needs with places. I know some of the buildings. We had a Commencement matter in the Seanad today about Scoil Eoin. I am aware of the issues in Scoil Eoin and the building project there as well. We are working extremely hard right across the country. I have seen the evidence of the work that has been done by the NCSE and the Department of Education to make sure there are places available for every child in September.

On the SEN allocation, I will reply to Deputy Conway-Walsh in the next part of my reply.

Pa Daly (Kerry, Sinn Fein)
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Regarding Karen O'Flaherty, the Department has said in other cases that it will provide modular accommodation where there is insufficient capacity but a new special class is sanctioned. It does not make sense that Murhur has children entitled to a special class and the board of management is in favour of establishing one. According to NCSE guidelines, in certain circumstances the SENO may sanction a class before there are sufficient students if extra places will be filled as students have been identified. The overriding consideration must be to respond to the needs of the students with special educational needs who, had they not additional needs, would ordinarily attend a school in the local community. The recent circular says that medium and larger schools will be required to open special schools. Murhur is small, but Karen's needs are as valid as those of the children in bigger schools. She is entitled to her full education and is better served in a special class. The school has reached out and I respectfully urge the Minister of State to intervene and deliver what Karen, her family and the community deserve.

As regards the whole of Kerry, 18 special education classes have been sanctioned and there is extra funding, but although they have been sanctioned, there are no additional classes available. That does not equate to delivery.

Rose Conway-Walsh (Mayo, Sinn Fein)
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I will give the Minister of State this document. It sets out what the issue that needs to be addressed is. The student I was talking about receives maths tuition for two hours per week, covering basic units like money, the days in the week and the months in the year. Is there any TD in the Dáil with his or her child at this level of learning in secondary school who would not expect that child to have an allocation of teaching hours separate to the general SET hours? SET hours are allocated to dyslexic students, for example, who can learn but may spell phonetically. Where it looks or sounds like a word, it will be fine but the student is still able to complete the content of the junior cycle and senior cycle schooling.

The reality is that the L2LP and L1LP programmes need allocation of hours similar to the LCA programme where the school receives half a teacher and the number of students may be low, but the need is high in these cases. I want the Minister of State to examine what is happening.

Michael Moynihan (Cork North-West, Fianna Fail)
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I will respond directly to Deputy Conway-Walsh with the details.

On the issue in north-east Kerry, there have been extra SENOs put into the field since last September. My experience to date is that they have been working extremely well with families and school communities to ensure that the need is being addressed as locally as possible. There was a circular earlier in the year relating to medium-to-large schools. That is because the NCSE and the Department felt it was being left unduly up to the smaller schools to lift the burden with regard to special classes. We want to make sure that every school across the county is making provision for special education. As Deputy Daly rightly pointed out at the start of his question, the need is growing right across the country. Every school will have to make provision. I do not have the details of the school to hand, so it would be wrong of me to discuss it here or make any commitment on it. However, I am willing to take the details from the Deputy and I will report back to him.