Eugene Murphy (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Cuirim fáilte roimh an Aire Stáit go dtí an Teach. Gabhaim buíochas léi as ucht teacht anseo. I appreciate that she always deals with areas of special needs with sincerity and honesty. I wish to draw her attention to a lovely school in a rural part of County Roscommon, Granlahan National School on the Roscommon-Mayo border. It is a small school which had 32 pupils in 2022-2023 and 39 in 2023-2024. The projected figure for 2024-2025 is 42. Therefore, this is a school with growing numbers of pupils which is important. They are all people who will be remaining in the area. They are not people who will be moving on.

The problem is that special education hours are proposed to be cut from 22.5 hours to 17.5 hours from September 2024. That is a 22% cut even though enrolment will increase by 25%. This has come as a great shock to the principal and the other teachers there as well to the parents of the pupils. The school never had as much need for this service and certainly does not want it cut because it will lead to all sorts of problems. The school has a number of pupils with a diagnosis and some incoming pupils are undergoing or awaiting assessment. In some circumstances they will have special needs and will need psychological services.

While I know Government is making a great effort to improve these services and ensure all children are looked after, and no doubt in some places figures are improving, there is a danger that some of the smaller schools could lose out as we have seen with what is about to happen in Granlahan National School. It would be tragic if some children in our system could not avail of those services. The teachers and parents have made a huge effort to ensure all children get assistance where they need it and the hours that they have are very valuable and valued. As enrolment is clearly increasing, we certainly cannot cut back on this service.

I will not prolong the issue. It is basic and down to earth. It is an issue that needs to be addressed. I hope the Minister of State will be able to provide some comfort that I can bring back to the school. I await her reply with interest.