Jerry Buttimer (Fine Gael)
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The Minister of State, Deputy Thomas Byrne, is very welcome.

Emer Currie (Fine Gael)
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The Minister of State is welcome. I thank him for being here. I know the Minister of State, Deputy Madigan, has to attend a funeral and cannot be here, but she is aware of the issues I am about to raise. I hope there can be action on them.

Danu Community Special School opened in November 2019 under the patronage of Dublin and Dún Laoghaire Education and Training Board, DDLETB, in a temporary location in the Hansfield Educate Together Secondary School building. It made do while it was there even though it was on the first floor, which is not ideal for a special school, and did not have its own distinct space. It then moved to what could be its permanent location, at Rath Dara Community College. There it is accommodated in an annexe of an existing school. It is not appropriate accommodation for this special school.

This is the first special school that has been built in 15 years by the Department of Education, the first special school in Dublin 15 and DDLETB's first special school, but it is not what should be. It does not have the purpose-built accommodation tailored to the complex needs of the school that is required and it does not show the ambition these children deserve. It does not fit with the vision we all hoped for when we campaigned for this school. When I use the term "we", I mean the parents and school community in Dublin 15.

Every child needs to be able to reach his or her full potential. I will address three specific areas of concern. The first is that I do not understand why the school was built by the DDLETB rather than through the expertise of the Department of Education for a special school. One can see this in the current accommodation. New schools such as Edmund Rice College, the national school in Palmerstown and Coláiste Pobail Setanta have a dedicated space, base or unit, whatever way one wishes to describe it as, that is tailored to the children and learning life skills.

I visited Danu Community Special School and saw that, because the accommodation is not appropriate for these children, the teachers are burning a lot of energy doing things they should not have to do. The accommodation is not wheelchair accessible and the students do not have an appropriate outdoor sensory space similar to those present at many other schools. There is hoarding around the outdoor space and a lot of noise from traffic. The classrooms are not of a suitable size. There is not enough space to design a flow that accommodates the needs of children. There is supposed to be a living space like a kitchen or a mini-apartment but it is tiny. The school does not have facilities of its own, such as an assembly room or outdoor facilities. It does not even know where the perimeter of its outdoor space is.

A second issue is that I do not believe the special education review committee, SERC, allocations for special schools are sufficient. They are based on primary schools. The school has one special education teacher and two special needs assistants, SNAs, per class. That is the same as a special class. Where is the special status that should be attached to a special school? The principal is in charge of 40 staff but, because there are only six teachers, she does not get the supports she should have for managing 40 people. It is severely restricted. I will address the other issues after the Minister of State replies.

Thomas Byrne (Meath East, Fianna Fail)
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I thank Senator Currie for raising the matter. It is vital that every child and young person with special educational needs be fully supported in the education sector, whether in mainstream, a special class or a special school. Significant investment and reforms have been made to ensure this is the case. A priority for the Government is to ensure that all children have an appropriate school placement and that the necessary supports are provided to our schools to cater for the needs of children with special educational needs.

This year, the Department of Education will spend in excess of €2.6 billion, or 27% of its budget, on providing additional teaching and care supports for children with special educational needs. In 2022, funding for an additional 980 teachers and 1,165 special needs assistants was provided. For 2023, the Department has further increased the number of teaching and SNA posts in our schools. There will be an additional 686 teachers and a further 1,194 SNAs in our schools next year. For the first time ever, therefore, 19,000 teachers will be working in the area of special education, alongside more than 20,000 special needs assistants. Together, almost 40,000 qualified and committed people in our schools will be focused wholly and exclusively on supporting children with special educational needs. Children will undoubtedly benefit, as is right and proper, from the additional focus these resources will bring to their education. The 686 new teacher posts will support children in both mainstream and specialist settings, including 205 new posts in mainstream schools and 480 posts for new special classes and in special schools. The 480 posts in specialist placements will facilitate the opening of 370 new special classes, catering for more than 2,000 children, and support an increase of 250 new special school places in 42 special schools.

Budget 2023 also provided funding for additional staffing in both the National Council for Special Education, NCSE, and the National Educational Psychological Service, NEPS. Both these measures will ensure our schools and students benefit from the additional practical support from special educational needs organisers, NCSE advisers and educational psychologists. The NCSE has a process in place for reviewing the level of supports allocated to individual schools such as scoil Danu, which the Senator mentioned. Where schools consider they may require additional resources, they can engage directly with the NCSE to seek a review at any time. This review considers the specific needs of the children enrolled in the school. The NCSE has advised the Minister of State, Deputy Madigan’s, officials that they are working closely with the school in question to ensure it is resourced and supported to meet the needs of the children attending it. I assure the Senator the NCSE will continue to work with the school on any issues that may arise.

While the additional funding being made available to provide more special education teachers, SNAs and NCSE supports in our schools is significant, it is accepted that a range of additional challenges face our special schools. These schools support children and young people with the most complex special educational needs. As for additional supports, special schools receive significant funding and have been resourced to reflect their particular needs. The Department recognises the additional challenges that arise for them and is actively engaging with the National Association of Boards of Management in Special Education, NABMSE, to address some of these issues. It facilitated a series of meetings with special schools in November and has focused on a number of issues special schools face. The Department is collating the feedback from these meetings and will work further with NABMSE on the priority areas to be progressed. It is committed to progressing these issues from both an administrative and a budgetary point of view.

Emer Currie (Fine Gael)
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The experience of the school is that because it has 36 children, everything is capped according to that, and their needs and what they need to excel are not being accommodated appropriately. It is a one-size-fits-all approach, as opposed to a child getting additional support where he or she needs it. As for the building, the classrooms are not purpose built and teachers are spending a long time doing things they should not have to do, such as minding doors as opposed to teaching in a purpose-built environment. Furthermore, the school is in a DEIS area and is conjoined to a DEIS school, but it is not getting DEIS supports such as hot school meals. Very important oversights need to be looked at.

The hope, from a parent's perspective, was always that this would be an autism school that was a centre of excellence. That is what we should aspire to. The best site for the school is the urology building in Blanchardstown, where a purpose-built school can be accommodated, not just for the children who need it now but for the growing need in the area into the future.

Thomas Byrne (Meath East, Fianna Fail)
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I will ensure the Minister of State, Deputy Madigan, is made aware of the specific points the Senator raised. She has visited a large number of special schools and special classes since she took office and has seen the excellent work done for and with students. I have no doubt she would be more than happy to visit the Senator's area and the school in question. There are challenges and the Department and both the Minister for Education and the Minister of State are committed to continuing to work to ensure school communities will be supported in the vital work they do in special education.