Shane Curley (Fianna Fail)
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There is not a single special educational needs, SEN, classroom at second level in Loughrea, County Galway. There is a rural hinterland with a population of 24,000 served by two secondary schools, not one of which has an SEN classroom. That is wrong in this day and age.An awful lot of students drive through Loughrea town and past their local secondary schools to get to towns like Athenry in order to access the nearest school that meets their needs. That is extremely wrong and we need to urgently address that. I fundamentally believe that, as a society, we should be judged on how we cater for the most vulnerable people in our society. Sadly, that is not happening in Loughrea. Every student in Ireland should be able to access their local secondary school and have their needs met on a fundamental level. In Loughrea, that simply is not happening. It is not the fault of either of the two schools. The teachers, the SNAs and the special needs co-ordinators are doing their level best to try to deliver the best education they can for every child who comes through their door. Sadly, however, they do not have the facilities to do so.

There is a ready-made solution sitting on the desk of the Department of education right now. It is an application for a 13-classroom extension in St. Brigid's College in Loughrea, which includes six SET classrooms. It would address the needs of the vast majority of students in the hinterland who need to access special education in their local schools.

My request is simple. Where there are not adequate facilities for people with special needs in our country, we need to see fast-tracked applications whereby a school puts in an application and it gets fast-tracked where the school has a clear desire to deliver proper education for our most vulnerable students but cannot physically do so with its current buildings. We need to see those applications fast-tracked, and I ask that the Minister of State consider that. I know this is not within his remit, but he might liaise with the Minister and make sure that we deliver for every student in Ireland. We should be judged on how we deliver for the most vulnerable, and we are not delivering in Loughrea right now. I am fed up dealing with that and I want to see action on it.

Frank Feighan (Sligo-Leitrim, Fine Gael)
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I thank Senator Curley for bringing me in and raising this on the floor of the Seanad. I am answering on behalf of the Minister for Education and Youth, Hildegarde Naughton.

Since 2020, more than €6 billion has been invested in schools across the country under the national development plan, involving the completion of over 1,300 school building projects. As the Senator is aware, the Government announced in July a capital allocation of €7.55 billion for the Department of Education and Youth for the period 2026 to 2030 under the national development plan. As part of this NDP allocation, the Department will place a strong emphasis on provision for children with special educational needs, with a particular focus on meeting the demand for school places. A focus of this plan will be, in the first instance, maximising the capacity of the existing school estate as much as possible. Additional capacity will be provided through targeted and prioritised projects that will be delivered over the course of 2026 to 2030. This will meet the most urgent and prioritised needs.

There are two post-primary schools in Loughrea where enrolments peaked in 2024 and are projected to remain stable. St. Raphael's was approved funding under the additional school accommodation scheme for the provision of modular accommodation under the Department's special educational needs reconfiguration and modular accommodation programme to provide two mainstream classrooms, one SEN and one technology room. The project has progressed and the Department is awaiting the confirmation of project completion to issue the final payment. The school was also previously approved to enter the Department's pipeline for a project under the additional school accommodation scheme to provide six mainstream classrooms. This project was completed in September 2022.

St. Brigid's College was approved to enter the Department's pipeline for a project under the additional school accommodation scheme and is devolved for delivery to Galway and Roscommon Education and Training Board, GRETB. A design team has been appointed to progress the project through the necessary architectural stages of design, statutory approvals, procurement and construction. The project will provide 14 mainstream classrooms, three science laboratories, a textiles room, a design and communications graphics-technical graphics room, an art room, one technology preparation area, ancillary accommodation and a four-classroom special educational needs base. This project is currently at stage 2a of the architectural planning process. A stage 2a submission was received and reviewed by the Department, but as the submission did not include all the necessary information, a revised stage 2a report was requested. This has been received and is undergoing review from both a technical and a cost perspective. Once this review is complete, the Department will contact GRETB and provide guidance on the next steps for this project.

Budget 2026 recently provided funding for a further 3,000 special class and special school places to be provided for the 2026-27 school year. The NCSE sanctioned 407 new special classes, and over 300 new special school places are being provided for the 2025-26 school year.

To improve future planning for the next school year, families were encouraged to engage with the NCSE by 1 October 2025 for the 2026-27 school year, four months earlier than in previous years. The earlier timeline will assist the NCSE in approaching local schools to open new special classes earlier. The earlier timeline is also being introduced to provide more time for the establishment of new special classes and additional special school capacity.

Shane Curley (Fianna Fail)
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I appreciate the response and I know the Minister of State is delivering it on behalf of a different Minister but, basically, what we hear in the response is that there is one SEN classroom on the way in Loughrea. It does not exist; it is on the way. I know that four are approved and that the project is at stage 2a with the Department, but I ask that that stage be fast-tracked. In a town where there is not a single SEN classroom, we see in the response that there is a four-classroom SEN base awaiting approval for Loughrea in St. Brigid's College, where I myself went to school. It would be great to see that delivered. It would be a proud day for Loughrea for us to finally be able to say that we meet the needs of every student and, no matter their needs, we will provide for them and give them the education they deserve. That is what I want from my town, but I do not see it in the response. It is a priority, but I do not see any commitment to fast-tracking applications even though zero facilities exist in a town where there is a glaring and obvious need.

It is a passion of mine to see this delivered. I would really appreciate a more urgent response from the Minister so that she would commit to some level of fast-tracking in the case of Loughrea town. I do not know many towns in Ireland that cater for the needs of 24,000 people in an overall rural hinterland but do not have a single SEN classroom. That is not good enough in this day and age. I am passionate about this. I know I have gone over time. We need to see urgent action on this. Stage 2a still means there are years involved in this before we get to completion, and that is not fair.

Frank Feighan (Sligo-Leitrim, Fine Gael)
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I thank Senator Curley for his passionate and informative contribution.

Provision of school places, including special education places, to meet the needs of our young people is an absolute priority for the Department. It is a priority for the Senator. The Department will continue to work with and support schools to ensure there are sufficient places for all students.

I will bring the Senator's very important message back to the Minister. Again, I thank him for raising this important issue in the Seanad.