John McGahon (Fine Gael)
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I thank the Minister of State for coming in today to discuss this issue. It is certainly an important issue for me and more important, for the community of the Cooley Peninsula in north Louth. This issue was brought to my attention a week and a half ago by Ms Síle Murnaghan who is the principal of Monksland National School. It was brought to my attention because of the inability, perhaps, of Ms Murnaghan to successfully engage with the Department over a number of months after the Department approached representatives from Monksland National School in January of this year to ask whether they would like two special classrooms to care for pupils with autism. Naturally enough, Ms Murnaghan and the board of management jumped at such a proposal and were delighted to have been asked. They thought this could be September 2023 and that they would be able to have children ready by then. The Department came back and said it actually wants them in September 2022, which is excellent. That shows the ambitiousness of the Department in being able to provide special classrooms for children with autism.

On the back of that, the local community and pupils who would avail of this were identified. We pretty much have ten children, which covers nine families, enrolled for September 2022. This week, we approach 1 July, which means 1 September will be roughly eight weeks away by the end of the week. As of yet, we are still waiting for the final confirmation from the Department that the money will be made available. I have all the information for the Minister of State in terms of the timeline from when the Department first got in touch on 26 January. This is without seeking to cast aspersions or apportion blame because that stuff is in the past. I am speaking on the floor of the Seanad today on behalf of the parents, pupils and teachers of Monksland National School to get this project over the line. I am not trying whatsoever to apportion blame to anyone within the Department. The current state of play, however, is that a submission was sent in a number of weeks ago in terms of the costs that would be needed to go ahead with this. That was supplied by the planner. Only last week after I raised this in the Seanad did the Department get back in touch to say it needs a further breakdown of those costs. That breakdown is now going back into the Department. Hopefully, once that breakdown goes back in, the Department will be able to approve it straightaway.

We only have eight weeks left to make sure these two classrooms are built and ready to welcome new students in September. I think we can do it within those eight weeks. Let us be very clear about it, however. Eight weeks is an incredibly short timeframe to get the level of infrastructure and facilities needed into a small rural national school in north Louth. I firmly believe there was quite a delay through administrative errors on the Department's side. As I said, however, I did not come to floor of the Seanad to try to find a scapegoat. I came here to try to find a solution. I really hope that through the offices of the Minister, Deputy Foley and Minister of State, Deputy Madigan, when the final bit of paperwork is submitted - which is a further, more detailed breakdown of the costs - there will be absolutely no delay in the decision from the Department and that it will be approved. Then, we can get on with having this school for the community and students that dramatically need it come September.

Frank Feighan (Sligo-Leitrim, Fine Gael)
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I am taking this Commencement matter on behalf of my colleague, the Minister for Education, Deputy Foley, who is regrettably unavailable.

I thank Senator McGahon for raising that matter as it provides the Minister with the opportunity to outline the current position regarding the accommodation needs of Monksland National School in Carlingford, County Louth, and the Government's firm commitment to enabling students with additional needs to receive an education appropriate to those needs.

As the Senator will be aware, Monksland National School is a co-educational national school that caters for pupils from junior infants to sixth class. The school had an enrolment of 132 pupils in the year 2021-22, with a mainstream staffing complement of a principal plus four mainstream teachers for the current academic year.In addition, the school has two special education support teaching posts.

This year, the Department of Education will invest in excess of €2 billion, or more than 25% of the Department's budget, in the area of special educational needs support. As a result, the number of special education teachers, special needs assistants and special classes and places are at unprecedented levels.

In this academic year, there are 2,148 special classes in schools across the country. Of these, almost 1,900 special classes cater for students with autism. The National Council for Special Education, NCSE, has responsibility for co-ordinating and advising on the education provision for children with special educational needs nationwide. A range of strategic initiatives has been put in place with the NCSE in recent years to support and expand special educational needs provision in schools throughout the country. These initiatives include enhanced arrangements for the planning and co-ordination of SEN provision requirements involving the Department, the NCSE and key stakeholders such as patrons and management bodies.

Our planning utilises the Department of Education's geographic information management system, GIS, to support a strategic and co-ordinated approach to the delivery of SEN provision. This includes real-time data on capacity across the school system. This has resulted in a more streamlined and joined-up planning process, which has ensured a targeted approach to meeting demand for special education placements ahead of each new school year. The Department of Education is satisfied that this approach is delivering. This intensive intervention has seen more than 300 special classes already opened nationwide for the 2021-22 school year, as well as the establishment of two new special schools in Cork and Dublin last September. This targeted approach will continue to identify and meet demand for special education placements throughout the country.

The NCSE, through its network of SENOs, special educational needs organisers, is currently engaging in a process of establishing two new ASD classes in Monksland National School for the 2022-23 school year. Two ASD special classes were sanctioned by the NCSE on 9 February 2022 to meet expected demand in the area. When the NCSE sanctions a special class in a school - primary or post-primary - it is open to the school authority to apply to the Department for capital funding to reconfigure any existing spaces within the school building to accommodate the class or to construct additional accommodation under the Department's additional school accommodation scheme, ASA. ASA application forms are available on the Department's website, www.education.ie.

Joe O'Reilly (Fine Gael)
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I thank the Senator emeritus and Minister of State, Deputy Feighan, for being with us for a long morning. I also thank Senator McGahon for raising the matter in the first instance. I welcome the visitor in the Gallery. It is good to have her here. I am sure she will have noticed that all politics is local.

John McGahon (Fine Gael)
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I have one minute to reply to the Minister of State. It is my absolute pleasure to have Nicola here today. She is from Dundalk and has just finished her leaving certificate. She is going on to become a nurse in September but I hope we will have her interested in politics by the end of this week following her internship in my office.

I appreciate the Minister of State, Deputy Feighan, coming to the House to respond to the issue I raised. In his response, he indicated that there is a very significant school building programme happening right across the State. That is correct, but I have the timeline here in black and white. The Department took 38 days to reply with an update to an email from a school principal. To me, that does not indicate that we are able to embark on a significant building programme when a principal like Síle Murnaghan in Monksland National School has to consistently chase the Department and sections within it to see if she can get the classrooms across the line. It is there in black and white, but I will not go into it because I do not want to focus on the mistakes of the past.

What I want is a solution for the Cooley Peninsula, Monksland National School, Síle and the board of management, but most important, what I want is a solution for the pupils who will start in the school on 1 September.I know the Minister of State, through his good offices, will bring that point back to the Minister for Education and the Minister of State, Deputy Madigan. I hope when the final bit of information goes in, the Department will approve this without any further delay.

Joe O'Reilly (Fine Gael)
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My apologies for cutting the Senator short. I was trying to give the Minister of State a break.

Frank Feighan (Sligo-Leitrim, Fine Gael)
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I thank the Senator for raising this important issue. Monksland National School submitted an ASA application in March 2022 requesting funding for refurbishment of rooms to accommodate an SEN class sanctioned by the NCSE. Further information was requested from the school by officials in the Department of Education in relation to this application and was received in April 2022. The school's application has been assessed and a decision issued directly to the school authorities with regard to the proposed permanent accommodation. The school has also been approved for two 100 sq. m buildings of temporary accommodation to cater for its immediate needs in the interim. This was approved and notified to the school authorities in March 2022.

There are some issues with communication. I will bring the issues the Senator raised to the Minister and ask the Department and the Minister to work directly with the school and, indeed, with the Senator. I again thank him for raising this matter.