Gary Gannon (Dublin Central, Social Democrats)
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Urgent and deeply troubling concerns have been brought to me by the staff of Casa Caterina special school in Cabra, a school that provides critical education and care for children with severe emotional and behavioural difficulties. I understand the Minister of State is stepping in tonight for the Minister of State with responsibility for special education. I feel that this issue is also directly related to the Minister of State's own brief. Casa Caterina is not just a school.

It is a lifeline that serves 36 of the most vulnerable children in this State. These are children who have been removed from mainstream settings and placed in the care of a staff who are doing everything humanely possible to provide stability, dignity and to provide education to this cohort of young students. However, they are doing so without the vital supports they need to do the job effectively and what the children in that school deserve. To put it plainly, we have a special school with absolutely no specialised interventions. There are no behavioural therapists, no psychologists, no play or music therapy, no social care workers and no multidisciplinary team. What they have in the school is just a handful of very brilliant teachers and SNAs who are, at this point and every single day, stretched beyond reason while doing their best to hold it together in an environment that is immensely challenging.

Casa Caterina is one of only a handful of schools in Ireland for children with severe emotional and behavioural difficulties, often alongside a diagnosis of autism and ADHD. The school is stretched to its limits. These are children who have really complex needs, incredible potential and an urgent right for proper supports. Even more appalling is that many of these children come from DEIS schools and, when they move to Casa Caterina, they lose their DEIS supports. They lose the home school community liaison officer, access to school completion programmes and the essential wraparound services that are proven to keep children engaged and safe. If the Minister of State can imagine for a second, so complex are the needs of the children who are in Casa Caterina that they are not suitable for a DEIS programme school. Their vulnerabilities are so complex and their needs so great that they are not suitable for the DEIS environment but they are placed in a school that loses all associated supports.

The staff at Casa Caterina, under the leadership of acting principal, Lorna Cahill, and acting deputy principal Edel Troy, have done everything in their power. They are crying out for better supports, not for themselves but for the children they very clearly love and fight for every day. They are pleading for a fit-for purpose building, a multidisciplinary team consisting of mental health supports, and recognition that this school is not like every school and cannot be funded like one. No teacher, no SNA and no human could sustain this without urgent change. The Education Act 1998, guarantees every child the right to an appropriate education, and that right is very clearly being denied by neglect, by inaction and by refusing to treat schools such as Casa Caterina as the specialised settings they are. The children and staff of Casa Caterina will be visiting the Dáil in two weeks' time. They will walk through the gates of Leinster House and see the very place that has the power to change their futures. Will the Minister of State meet with Casa Caterina leaders and listen to what they need? Will she provide the specialist staff and therapeutic supports that should have been in place from day one? Will she recognise the school for what it is, namely, a blueprint for how the State should be treating its most vulnerable children but one that is operating without dignity, without the associated expertise that is required, and without the care and interventions of the State they sorely lack?

Hildegarde Naughton (Galway West, Fine Gael)
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I thank Deputy Gannon. I am taking this Topical Issue on behalf of the Minister of State, Deputy Moynihan.

The Department of Education and Youth and the National Council for Special Education, NCSE, are aware of the recent issues raised by the school to which the Deputy refers. Both Department and NCSE officials are engaging with the school directly to address the concerns raised. A meeting was held on 7 November between the Department, the NCSE, the school management team and a representative from the school’s board of management. The school will continue to be prioritised for support by the NCSE, by the National Educational Psychological Service, NEPS, and by the Department’s inspectorate.

The meeting last week also identified a number of areas which can be progressed in the short term. Department officials will ensure that the school’s management is informed of developments on an ongoing basis. It is important that schools raise concerns with the Department and the NCSE when they arise so that supports and-or advice and guidance can be provided when they are required. I know special schools face a number of additional challenges and the Department and the NCSE are available to provide support when required. Special schools now have both administrative principal and administrative deputy principal posts since September 2024. These additional posts are proving instrumental in assisting principals with leadership and management functions, with both the necessary support for learning and parental and community engagement. The NCSE has recruited additional SENOs, team managers and advisors to support all schools, with special schools prioritised across the board for support. On the advisory side, the NCSE is developing a greater level of curriculum, behaviour and other training supports for schools. New leads for these important areas of work have been appointed and are available to work with schools to design and deliver new bespoke training and supports.

Aligned to the issues which the school has raised, two other priorities in relation to special education refer to therapy supports and day-to-day funding to cover the increasing costs of running our special schools. Securing funding on both issues was a key focus in the recent budget discussions. The programme for Government 2025 commits to the introduction of an education therapy support service. This service will begin in special schools and gradually extend to special classes and mainstream settings, ensuring all children can access occupational therapy and speech and language therapy in a timely and effective way. The allocation of €16 million in budget 2026 will support the continued roll-out of this service, along with the necessary resources and supports. These therapeutic services will build the capacity of school communities to better support all children and provide one-to-one therapy interventions for those who need them most. This is a transformative initiative and one that will make a real difference in the lives of children and families. Budget 2026 has also delivered increased investment in teacher professional learning in special education, additional funding for assistive technologies and enhanced capitation, which will benefit, in particular, children in special schools. In real terms, the capitation increases which have been secured - the increase in the base rates, the enhanced rate for students aged 12 and over in special schools, and the application of a payment threshold for a minimum of 60 students in all schools - will make a substantial difference. We must also look to raise the bar and be more ambitious for our children and young people with special educational needs. Initiatives, including new post-primary curriculum pathways, transition supports and new further education and training programmes in development, will help with this.

Gary Gannon (Dublin Central, Social Democrats)
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I am really happy to hear that a meeting has taken place between the Department and the school, Casa Caterina. It is incredible. I walked into that school about a month ago and, to my own shame and detriment, I did not actually know the school existed. Then I walked up to the shut gates. They open up and you are initially met by the kids who are playing in the playground. Who you meet are 36 children for whom mainstream education was very clearly not built. You see they had to remove themselves from the supports of DEIS and then are placed in an environment where there is so much care among the staff and so much general goodwill. You just see, in that instance, the absence of State intervention, which I thought was a real shame. These 36 young people who were failed by our education system will also become 36 adults. Without the proper interventions that are simply being asked for by this school, the issues become far more complex and the challenges become more profound. I really think it is these locations that we must flood with supports. The idea that these 36 children were having supports removed from them because of the complex nature of their emotional and regulatory functions was so eye-opening for me. I really appreciate the fact that the Department has now met with the school. I hope schools such as Casa Caterina are prioritised rather than almost devalued or demoted based on the complexity of the issues they face every day. I bring this to the Chamber because I was definitely shocked by what I discovered there. There are amazing staff and incredible kids but a genuine lack of State intervention. I was not aware of the school but once you become conscious of it you cannot but commit yourself to trying to make it better. I hope the Department officials who have met the school staff in the last couple of days will also take that on board. I thank the Minister of State for her contribution.

Hildegarde Naughton (Galway West, Fine Gael)
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As previously stated, both the Department and NCSE officials are engaging directly with the school in relation to the recent concerns raised by the school. There has been an online meeting and a school visit is planned to involve the NCSE, NEPS, and the inspectorate. I cannot stress enough that any school that has a concern regarding the provision of supports available for students with special educational needs should contact the NCSE, or the Department, in the first instance.

Guidance, advice and support will be provided to ensure that schools are supported and their concerns are addressed.

I also wish to take this opportunity to outline the well-being services available to school staff that are supported by the Department, namely Oideas's well-being at work teacher well-being section, details of which can be found online, and the employee assistance service provided by Spectrum. This service provides a dedicated, confidential, 24-hour, seven-days-a-week service 365 days a year to promote staff well-being in the workplace. In addition, the Teaching Council provides a number of supports and resources to teachers and school leaders to support their well-being, including personal, professional and financial supports. Further information is available on the Teaching Council's website.