Maria McCormack (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

St. Francis School is a special school in Portlaoise. It got a new school building in 2021. Because it took so long for the new school to be built - 14 years - as a result of all of the hoops that had to be jumped through, when it opened in 2021, it did not have the capacity it needed. The principal made accommodations by turning 19 classes into 12. Since 2021, the school has been promised a modular build to facilitate its growing needs, but this has not been provided. In recent months, the principal has received sanction for nine new school places. He was assured the modular build would be in place and he would be able to take on more students. These nine students have been offered enrolment for the school year starting September 2025, but there has not been any communication yet. Every week, the principal contacts the Department of Education but is just pushed further down the road. The parents are absolutely outraged. They do not know what is going on. There are also 45 children on the waiting list. We do not have any other special school. Children who need to attend a special school have nowhere else to go. They have complex needs that need to be accommodated. Can we request that the Minister of State, Deputy Moynihan, update the principal and families of this school? If we are getting this modular build before September 2025, which we must, it needs to be large enough to accommodate all the families because, if it is not, what are the other families on the waiting list going to do? There is nowhere else for them to go. Laois, especially Portlaoise, has one of the fastest growing populations in Ireland. We cannot leave these vulnerable children behind.