Jen Cummins (Dublin South Central, Social Democrats)
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88. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills her plans to redesignate special schools that cater to children with mild general learning disabilities. [30858/25]

Jen Cummins (Dublin South Central, Social Democrats)
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I wish to ask about schools that cater for young people with mild general learning disabilities. I recently had the pleasure of visiting Scoil Eoin in Crumlin in my constituency and seeing the absolute care and love in that school for those students. I was really taken with how well they are provided with an excellent service for their education but also for their future. What will happen now with regard to this school having to broaden its admissions policy?

Michael Moynihan (Cork North-West, Fianna Fail)
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I thank the Deputy for the question. The Government is committed to the provision of additional special school places for children with more complex educational needs. Over 300 new special school places are being provided for in the coming school year, 2025-26. Five new special schools are being established in addition to 11 new special schools having opened over the past five years. Special school capacity is also being expanded in a number of special schools.

Along with providing additional special school capacity, the Department and the National Council for Special Education are considering that it may be necessary to look at the profile of our existing special schools. It is not the intention to exclude children who require special school places from accessing certain special school settings, but instead to work to ensure children with complex educational needs can apply to their own local school. The Deputy will agree that situations are arising where children with additional needs are travelling past special schools in their locality to attend special schools farther away. This is not fair on children or their families. This is down to the fact that children cannot apply for admission to their local special school simply because they do not meet the narrow designation of that specific school. This needs to be addressed and the Department is looking to engage with stakeholders in that regard. This is not a new departure. The National Council for Special Education reports that over half of these mild general learning disability special schools have been diversified, which means children with more complex needs can enrol in their local special school.

I thank the schools that have worked with us to broaden their designation. The Department will continue to support schools in this endeavour so that more special schools can better support children with complex needs in their local community. Approximately 30 of the 129 special schools were originally designated as schools for children with mild general learning disability. The establishment of these special schools predated the significant expansion of supports offered in mainstream schools through additional special education teachers and the resources of special needs assistants. I will come back in on that.

Jen Cummins (Dublin South Central, Social Democrats)
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I accept there are children who will pass by special schools to go to other schools because there is no capacity for them in that school, whether that is because of the admissions policy or because of what they are catering for. Notwithstanding that, could we not as a country, seeing as we are quite rich, have schools that cater for mild general learning disabilities as well as schools that cater for more complex needs? Do we have to have catchall special schools? That is the phrase that is being used. Could we not have schools with expertise for those mild general learning disabilities and also schools that cater for more complex needs?

I have visited these schools. My party colleague Deputy Whitmore is working very closely with New Court special school in Bray and colleagues throughout the country are working with these schools. They provide excellence in education for those students who may not have the same opportunity in mainstream schools. I fear that if those children have to go back to mainstream, they may not thrive as well as they are in special schools. I understand completely that children should not be passing schools locally and I get the Minister of State's point in that regard, but could we not have both?

Michael Moynihan (Cork North-West, Fianna Fail)
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I take the point, but it is important that special schools, special classes and special places for children with additional needs are as local as possible to pupils' own communities. In various debates on special education, we constantly talk about people who are travelling long distances, be that in urban or rural Ireland, for those places. That is something we really are very serious about tackling.

On students with mild general learning disabilities, the experience over the past 20 years regarding mainstreaming is that a lot of it has been very successful. Yes, there are children whose needs will not be met in mainstream schools and we want to ensure we have that for them. We want real engagement with stakeholders because many of the schools throughout the country, as the Deputy has mentioned, are doing extraordinary work. We want to continue that but we want serious engagement as well. It is also important that we accommodate children as locally as possible to their own community.

Jen Cummins (Dublin South Central, Social Democrats)
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To that end, could we pause that for this September so that those schools can be engaged with further by the Department and the Ministers to allow them to negotiate a timeframe for those students who are already in the school but also for students coming in?

I want to make clear I do not want to delay any child getting a school place for September. That is not my intention and I know it is not the intention of any of those schools because I accept we are in dire straits for those children. However, I am fearful for those children who are thriving in those schools as to what happens if they go back to mainstream schools or if we have children who are in mainstream schools who are not coping and would not have a place to be.

We cannot be experts in every aspect of education. When we have schools, which are expert at working with children and bringing them to the best of their ability educationally and socially, and all the other things that come with special schools and mainstream schools, we need to ensure that is protected.

Michael Moynihan (Cork North-West, Fianna Fail)
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Most of the 30 mild general learning schools have worked extremely well with the National Council for Special Education over the past while to broaden their profile and to accept students with autism and more complex educational needs. Both the Minister, Deputy McEntee, and I have worked extraordinarily hard over the past number of months on making sure that we have a place for every child in September. That is a fundamental issue. We are trying to make sure that it is done early every year but in some of the information that we correlated over the past while, where there were some vacancies in some schools and children were travelling long distances away from those communities, if we are genuinely serious about making sure we have inclusivity, we have to tackle those issues and go under the bonnet to see what the challenges are and how we can make it more inclusive. I take the point on it but it is important we utilise every space available to make sure we have the most appropriate place for children. The schools have engaged. We will continue to engage with the stakeholders because we need everybody on board in relation to these projects.

Barry Heneghan (Dublin Bay North, Independent)
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Gabhaim buíochas leis an Aire Stáit as an gcúirt a thug sé ar Ghaelcholáiste Reachrann. Bhí gach duine an-sásta é a fheiceáil ansin. I thank Deputy Ó Muirí and the other TDs in Dublin Bay North for asking the Minister. It was good to see her there and the school was delighted that she visited.

The Department been speaking to the planning authorities and trying to expedite the building of this school. The Minister met all the teachers. It is important for the Irish language in north Dublin that this school building gets built. I thank the Minister again for her visit.

Helen McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael)
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At the outset, I acknowledge the recent school visit. I was invited by the Deputy as well as Deputy Ó Muirí and others. It was important for me to visit the school. I have heard from the Deputies so often of the challenges the school faces but, in particular, how wonderful the school is. It was wonderful to meet with an príomhoide, Eimer Nic an Rí, agus all the staff there and to have an opportunity to speak to them and to see how committed they are not only to the school but to the students. Many of the teachers are from my constituency and travel up and down. I got the full experience with the rain and jumping between prefabs, which I know they have to do on a daily basis. I am absolutely committed to supporting the development of this school, to making sure the students and teachers have the environment they need to be able to do even better and to build on the fantastic work that is already happening there.

As the Deputy will be aware, the programme for Government includes a commitment to expand opportunities for students to attend Gaelscoileanna and Gaelcholáistí. I believe the project to deliver the new 600-pupil building for the school supports this commitment.

As I said, I recently visited the school and saw first hand the importance of this planned building project. I know there have been many challenges along the way to get even to the point at which we are now, including the requirement for a new planning application. The new grant of the planning, which was received in December of 2023, with a number of conditions attached, has progressed and it has meant that we are in a situation where a design team is in place. I confirm my Department's staff is engaging intensively with the design team and with the patron throughout this entire process. My officials will be in contact with the school authority as soon as the design team completes its review. As I said to Deputies Heneghan and Ó Muirí when I visited last week, the intention is very much that come September, we will be able to issue the tender, that that process will start and, hopefully, early next year, we will be able to start putting boots on the ground, turning sods and making sure this building starts to happen.

The project will build on capital expenditure of €405 million, which was invested in Irish-medium schools between 2020 and 2024. I hope this is a strong demonstration of our commitment to Gaelscoileanna and choláistí across the country.

Barry Heneghan (Dublin Bay North, Independent)
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I welcome the fact the Minister stated she is committed. I thank all the TDs in Dublin Bay North for a unified push towards this. It is very important. The school has been waiting 25 years. It cannot wait 35 or 45 years. The students who are there now do not trust the system. I welcome the fact the Minister has committed to that and that it will go to tender by September. With all the pressure we can apply, is the Minister saying that construction will begin in Q1 to Q2 of 2026? If so, I thank the Minister from the bottom of my heart, on behalf of all the parents, students and people in north Dublin who are trying to access education through the medium of Irish.

Tá sé thar a bheith tábhachtach go bhfuil an deis ann do na daoine sin agus go bhfuil siad in ann an teanga dhúchasach agus gach rud a fheabhsú i mBaile Átha Cliath Thuaidh. Tá gach duine an-bhródúil as an nGaeilge ansin ach ní raibh an foirgneamh buan ann agus bhí sé sin drochbhéasach.

Helen McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael)
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We have set out the timeline. As of yesterday, there is nothing to suggest there are any issues with the work under way between the design team, the school and my Department, which means, I believe, that come September, we will be able to issue the tender. From speaking to some of the teachers when I visited the school a few weeks ago, I know that is the biggest concern. They have got to certain points and it has gone backwards. We need to make sure that once we get to the tender stage come September, nothing stops it progressing and once that is awarded, works can start as quickly as possible.

From other projects that have progressed recently, the tender process will take a couple of months. Once a builder is appointed, it often takes a bit of time to get everything in play and up and running, but I would expect that at the latest, all going according to plan, by the end of Q1 or, if not, early Q2, works should be able to start. As I said, as of yesterday, there was nothing to suggest there is anything preventing that from happening.

Barry Heneghan (Dublin Bay North, Independent)
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Tá sé deas é sin a chloisteáil. Tá mé thar a bheith sásta leis sin. It is important the children know that education through the medium of Irish is being taken seriously by the Government. In the previous Government, we saw a decrease in the number of children learning through the medium of Irish. It is something the Government needs to turn around. In the programme for Government, there are clear commitments to education through the medium of Irish and I like the way the Minister outlined them there. This is one of the most important things for me in my constituency but I would like to see this spread wider. I will not be so Dublin-centric. It is something the Department of Education and Youth can do, with more commitments and more construction of permanent buildings for Gaelscoileanna. In Dublin 2, 6, 4 and 8, they are looking for another Gaelscoil. I welcome the fact the Minister acknowledged that and I look forward to passing on the information to Gaelcholáiste Reachrann.

Helen McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael)
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As I said, €405 million has been invested in Irish-medium schools in the past four years alone. It means there are now 248 Gaelscoileanna and 50 Gaelcholáistí across the country. I want to see that increase.

Work is currently under way in my Department to develop a new policy on Irish-medium education. This is outside of the Gaeltachtaí. A policy for the Gaeltacht was announced recently and by all accounts, it has had a positive impact. We want to build on that and put a similar structure in place. We have had a comprehensive public consultation process in this regard. A task force is due to be established under the policy to explore issues relating to the various different models of Irish-medium education provision. This will be a key element of supporting our programme for Government commitment to expand opportunities for students to attend Gaelscoileanna and Gaelcholáistí.

Specifically on the school, I acknowledge Deputies Heneghan and Ó Muirí and others who have campaigned and supported and done everything possible to make sure that this project can come to fruition. I hope I am there to be able to see it through and to make sure that commitment is followed through on. As of now, we are working on track and on time and I hope to be able to fulfil that.