Emer Currie (Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

I will bring the Minister of State back to October 2018, when I first met representatives of the Autism School Dublin 15 committee, which campaigns for a dedicated special school. They spoke about how autism spectrum disorder units would not meet the complex needs of all their children, many of whom are non-verbal, have behavioural challenges and might be flight risks or suffer from violent outbursts or self-harm. They can also experience sensory overloads, which can be overwhelming.

Mainstream schools and their curriculum were not the appropriate environment for these children. The result is they were often on reduced hours or, tragically, expelled through no fault of their own.By very young ages these children or their families had been through so much and got so little because the system did not support them and did not see them a lot of the time. This group of parents, principals and professionals, through surveys and questionnaires, helped everyone, including the NCSE, to see all these children, whether they were in the wrong environments, on reduced hours, had home tuition grants or travel long distances outside Dublin 15 and Dublin 7 to access education. This group still knows better than anyone what the children need.

In February 2019, Dublin and Dún Laoghaire Education and Training Board, DDLETB, came on board and offered a site for a special school at Riversdale Community College as a patron. In April 2019, the official letter went to the then Minister for Education and Skills, Deputy McHugh, outlining the insufficient special school and special class capacity in Dublin 15 for September 2019 and beyond. In September 2019, Danu was opened. It welcomed its first student on 28 November in temporary accommodation on the site of Hansfield Educate Together Secondary School. Danu has worked incredibly hard to look after these children, even through Covid, caring for them and teaching them skills in an environment and a building that is not purpose-built for vulnerable children with complex needs while sharing a site with a secondary school. Hansfield Educate Together Secondary School was only ever to be temporary accommodation, and the plan was to move to Riversdale Community College, also in temporary accommodation that would require appropriate work to make it suitable and safe while a new school building was constructed on a site beside it. We were told that that new school building would take approximately five years. Everyone was on board, even though the temporary accommodation would never be ideal, even though Danu is sharing a car park and vehicle access with a mainstream secondary school and even though many of these children are flight risks and require safety procedures and protections all the time. However, it now seems that the temporary plans at Riversdale are to become permanent, to include six classrooms, a staff room, a principal's office, a secretary's office, toilets and other rooms, and that the classrooms will be smaller than they are currently because they are dealing with existing rooms. They currently accommodate four children but that will increase to six, and the plan is for more work on the site. They will have a separate door. The buildings will be divided but the schools will continue to share the same site, even though the adoption of older buildings is not necessarily ideal for children with complex needs. From a basic perspective, I am thinking about safety and windows that need to be high up. There is a site behind the school that could accommodate a purpose-built, dedicated school building and school grounds for children with specific and complex needs.

I would welcome a statement on this. The school communities feel they really need an appropriate site, staffing, supports and a school.

Josepha Madigan (Dublin Rathdown, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

I thank the Senator for her very important contribution regarding this matter. Danu Community Special School was established, as she said, in September 2019 in Dublin 15. There is a large volume of work still to be done, but I think she will accept that from her initial meeting with the parents in 2018 there has been substantial progress. It was necessary progress and, as I said, there is still more to do. The Senator correctly pointed out that Danu was under the patronage of DDLETB and was originally to cater for 40 students. The school now, I understand, has an enrolment of 23 students. As the Senator said, it took the first students on 28 November 2019. The school is temporarily co-located in Hansfield Educate Together Secondary School and will relocate to its permanent location on the site of Riversdale Community College for the forthcoming school year. I know the Senator is aware of that. I am pleased to inform her that a design team has been appointed to oversee the works required to facilitate the school's occupancy of a section of the Riversdale building in phase 1 of the relevant works.It is intended that a phase 2 development will be undertaken subsequently. The Department understands that the ETB is committed to the development of both schools, now and into the future. The Riversdale site is in the ownership of Dublin and Dún Laoghaire ETB and relocating the Danu Community Special School to the Riversdale site, first, is consistent with the public spending code in the context of maximising value for money, which also includes maximising the use of State assets. Second, it is consistent with the use of a shared educational campus, which is the preferred model of the future development of educational infrastructure, where feasible. Third, the building project is being funded under the Department's additional accommodation scheme 2021.

The Senator is aware that approval was granted only in February of this year for the refurbishment of 1,150 sq. m of existing permanent accommodation in Riversdale Community College for the benefit of Danu Community Special School. She correctly outlined the various accommodation that will be included, including six general classrooms, staffroom, principal's office, general office, meeting room, multisensory room and general purpose area. It also includes the relocation of an existing home economics room and a science laboratory, and also upgrade work to internal doors and the alarm system. It is important to note that the project is currently at stage 2A of the architectural planning process, which is the detailed design. Planning permission is not required for this either, and both the fire safety certificate and the disability access certificate have already been secured. It is anticipated by Dublin and Dún Laoghaire ETB that this project will advance to tender stage in the coming weeks.

I understand from the Senator's contribution that this is not ideal for the community but it is a lot of progress from where we were originally. The project was approved with a view to securing the long-term needs referred to by the Senator. I am very conscious of the constraints faced by the school in recent years. I assure the House that Dublin and Dún Laoghaire ETB is fully committed to providing sufficient and suitable school accommodation for Danu Community Special School. Even if a new build was to happen, it would take a number of years and, in that situation, we need to have interim accommodation. I assure the House this is being fully supported and facilitated by the Department of Education.

Emer Currie (Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister of State. I am very appreciative of the work that has been done to date and the action that has been taken. However, there is a strong feeling that a separate site is what is needed for this school and, in fact, that is what parents were led to expect. When we look at the numbers for the area, they are only going in one direction. I know how difficult it is to get a school site in Dublin 15 but here is a site that we have, where we could potentially build a dedicated state-of-the-art school that did not just cater to 40 students but up to 100 students in future. When we think of the money that has been spent on home tuition and bus transport, it would be great value for money, as well as being good for the safety of the children. It would mean staff could spend more time working on their independent life skills, rather than thinking about safety or sharing a car park with the secondary school, and the complex issues involved in that. While I appreciate there is a lot of work going on behind the scenes, I request that this be looked at again.

Josepha Madigan (Dublin Rathdown, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

I assure the Senator I will bring her comments to the attention of the Minister, Deputy Foley, and the Department. I will set out the work we have done in regard to special education. It is a priority for this Government and we are putting in the investment to ensure supports and school places are there for every single child. We are spending over €2 billion on special education this year. I have already announced the opening of two new special schools for next September. We have an additional 1,000 special needs assistants in the system this year, we are providing an extra 1,500 special class places for September and the number of special classes has increased by 235% since 2011. We reopened in-school special education first as a priority after Covid school closures.There is a major commitment that from this year all new school buildings will include special educational needs facilities into the future. We cannot underestimate the impact of that. We are also preparing for an expanded summer provision programme for students with additional needs. We have made good progress and the work goes on. Ar aghaidh leis an obair.