Regina Doherty (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister of State for coming to the Seanad to discuss this issue. I compliment her on the work she has done in recent months. It is truly refreshing to see the proactivity and the new approach that is being taken in the Department with regard to specials needs. I wish her every success. I know the Seanad will continue to support her.

I wish to raise the issue of the urgent need for provision of a permanent school building for St. Michael's House Special National School in Skerries, north County Dublin. It is a co-educational special school under the patronage of St. Michael's House, with 30 pupils, many of whom have a diagnosis of autism or are on the ASD spectrum. Some of them have very complex additional needs. For many years, work has been under way to build a permanent and purpose-built school and home for St. Michael's.It is currently based in a very old converted house and faces all of the challenges that come with that, mainly being overcrowded and always oversubscribed. With the support of the Department, the school is currently at stage 1 of the design and build process and is hoping to move on to the next stage early in the new year. A very successful and long meeting was held yesterday, which gave some succour. This is a hugely important milestone and is an impressive achievement for a small school at this stage.

While we are all pleased to see this part of the build process moving forward, there is an issue, a blocking and an impediment when it comes to the site acquisition. This process has been under way for four years now, but unfortunately seems to have completely stalled in the Chief State Solicitor's office. I want to ensure this delay does not begin to impact on the subsequent stages of the design and build process, which we will now move into. We need action on this now. The site acquisition needs approval and sign-off and that needs to be done now. We have waiting for far too long. The school has enormous support in the community. The Minister of State will know from her work over the last few months and visiting special schools that they are taken into the hearts and minds of the people who live around them and it is no different in Skerries. All sides are in favour of the purchase of the site and so there should be no issues. The delays in the Chief State Solicitor's office are proving quite disappointing.

The future of St. Michael's House in Skerries is bright. Its transformation from an old house to a 16-classroom purpose-built campus will do wonders not just for the area, but for all the pupils and their families. It will greatly enhance the school experience for those students and their families. It will also allow the school to cater for students with more serious and profound needs in our community. At the moment the school is constricted to those with moderate needs and the children with more severe needs have to be sent outside of their own community.

I am grateful that the Department has been so supportive of this project in recent times and I look forward to that support continuing. The completion of the site acquisition process should remove the last of any significant challenges we face in getting this school built and getting boots on the ground. I urge the Minister of State to sign off on it as soon as possible. I thank my local councillor, Tom O’Leary for highlighting this issue. I note in particular the dedication of the principal, Karen Byrne, who joined the school in 2018, and her predecessor Pat Price. The members of the board of management are all local and have given much time and commitment to this long sought after project. We want to see it come to fruition. We want to see a happy outcome and for any obstacles in the Chief State Solicitor's office to be addressed and cleared in order that we can move on to stages 2 and 3 and get this school built.