Michael Moynihan (Cork North-West, Fianna Fail)
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I would like to thank the Deputy for his question.

My department’s preference in relation to students with anxiety who are not attending school is, other than in exceptional circumstances, that they should be supported to attend their school in person. This is on the basis that the need to socialise and engage with their peers is best facilitated in person in school.

While my department currently has no plans to establish educational hubs as described, several supports are already available for students who are unable to attend mainstream school due to school refusal or lack of placement. These include:

Home Tuition Grant Scheme

The department’s Home Tuition Grant Schemes provide funding towards the provision of a compensatory educational service for children who, for several reasons, are unable to attend school. By its nature, it is intended to be a short-term intervention.

Its purpose is to fund an educational provision for:

1. Pre-School Children with autism who meet the scheme’s eligibility criteria
2. Children seeking a Special School or Special Class placement
3. Students, enrolled in schools, with a significant medical condition, which has caused, and is likely to continue to cause, major disruption to their attendance at school
4. Students, enrolled in schools, with school phobia and/or associated depression/anxiety, which has caused, and is likely to continue to cause, major disruption to their attendance at school

In exceptional cases the Department will consider home tuition applications on behalf of students with diagnoses of school phobia and/or associated depression/anxiety which has caused, and is likely to continue to cause, major disruption to their attendance at school. This exception will only apply where a continued absence from school is required to facilitate appropriate medical or therapeutic intervention with a view to the reintegration of the student in their school.

Under this scheme, the principle that home tuition cannot be provided as an alternative to school still applies.

iScoil

For students aged from 13 to 16 and who have been out of school for 6 months or more, iScoil is another support available. iScoil is an autonomous online learning community which has developed a model of learning that, in its own terms, is flexible, adaptive, innovative and inclusive, where young people who are out of school can re-engage in learning with the help of digital technologies and a personalized approach to learning online. Their work focusses on achieving progression to enable these students to go back to school. iScoil is registered under Section 14 of the Educational (Welfare) Act 2000 as a provider of education to certain children receiving education in places other than a recognised school.

Over the last number of years, the Department has increased its funding to iScoil to expand the number of places available, increasing from 80 to 180. Specifically the cohort of children whose medical assessment indicates school phobia may be regarded as suited to this type of intervention.

Places are available only to those referred to iScoil by Tusla Education Support Service (TESS) Educational Welfare Officers (EWO’s) and not the Department of Education.

iScoil also works in partnership with agencies, youth services, and School Completion Programmes nationally to provide blended learning opportunities for young people who have disengaged from mainstream education. Blended learning centres are youth-friendly, safe spaces where students log on and receive a combination of digital instruction from tutors and face-to-face support from designated centre-based staff, known as support workers. Support workers monitor and follow-up on student attendance and engagement and identify and support student progression. Students attend blended learning centres at set times. iScoil provides training to all support workers.

National Educational Psychological Service

The Department of Education & Youth also has an important role to play in supporting the wellbeing and mental health of our young people. The department’s Wellbeing Policy and Framework for practice has given recognition to the importance of promoting wellbeing in education. It outlines a comprehensive, whole-school approach to the promotion of wellbeing and positive mental health. It focuses on the whole school community, as well as groups and individual young people with identified needs.

My department's National Educational Psychological Service (NEPS) provides a comprehensive psychological service to all primary and post primary schools. NEPS is a school-based service which means that all its psychologists work in schools with children, young people, teachers and parents, and are involved with school-related work, every day. The NEPS psychologist provides a range of services that may include supporting the wellbeing and inclusion of an individual pupil, through assessment and intervention. NEPS supports approximately 8,000 individual children annually through this type of work. NEPS work also supports teachers in their work through providing professional learning opportunities, such as about trauma informed approaches, supporting autistic children, or delivering the Friends for Life programmes to help reduce anxiety. NEPS supports an estimated 25,000 teachers annually in this way.

The department, through NEPS, Student Support Teams, Guidance Counsellors and other services, will also continue to signpost schools and students to the HSE/HSE-funded e-mental health services. The Department of Education & Youth has built strong links with the Department of Health and both departments are exploring ways to improve supports for young people, including around increased awareness, promoting help-seeking behaviour and signposting to the wide range of available services. We will continue to collectively explore ways of improving supports for children and young people.

Helen McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael)
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My department's Home Tuition Grant Schemes provide funding towards the provision of a compensatory educational service for children who, for a number of specific reasons, are unable to attend school.

Home tuition is provided as an interim measure only for children for whom a placement in a recognised school is not currently available and should not be regarded as an optional alternative to a school placement. By its nature, home tuition is intended to be a short-term intervention.

The Department of Education operates four categories of home tuition:

1. Maternity-related absences
2. No School Place (NSP) Home Tuition Scheme
3. Children in Care (CIC) Home Tuition Scheme
4. Home tuition for children with special educational needs and on medical grounds

Maternity Related, No-School Place and Children in Care.

There are a variety of reasons why a child may be without a school place such as children moving school mid-year, family relocating, expulsion, children receiving a place further away than they can travel to. The Home Tuition Scheme is a short-term measure until a solution is put in place.

The Educational Welfare Service is part of Tusla Education Support Service (TESS) and operates under the Education (Welfare) Act, 2000, a piece of legislation that emphasises the promotion of school attendance, participation, and retention. A referral for a child without a school place is prioritised by the Educational Welfare Service and an Educational Welfare Officer (EWO) is assigned immediately to support families who are in this situation. Application forms for the home tuition scheme for children who are temporarily without a school place, who are without an offer of a school place and who are actively seeking a school placement in a recognised school, are available from the local Educational Welfare Officer (EWO) or the appointed social worker. The Educational Welfare Service can assist a family when applying for home tuition if the child is without a school placement. Home tutors are engaged by the parents/guardian of the child who is to receive tuition and the tutor has no contractual relationship with the Department of Education and Youth.

Currently there are 9 children in receipt of Home Tuition under the categories Maternity-related absences (MRA); Children In Care (CIC) and No School Place (NSP).

Special Education Home Tuition Scheme

The purpose of the Home Tuition Grant Scheme (Special Education Component) is to provide funding towards the provision of a compensatory educational service for:

1. Pre-School Children with autism who meet the scheme’s eligibility criteria
2. Children seeking a Special School or Special Class placement
3. Students, enrolled in schools, with a significant medical condition, which has caused, and is likely to continue to cause, major disruption to their attendance at school
4. Students, enrolled in schools, with school phobia and/or associated depression/anxiety, which has caused, and is likely to continue to cause, major disruption to their attendance at school

The aim of the department is to meet the needs of families and to ensure every child is allocated a suitable school placement. The preferred approach is that children are educated in school settings where children may have access to fully qualified teachers, individualised education programmes, special needs assistants, school curriculum with the option, where possible and appropriate, of full or partial integration and interaction with student peers.

The following table outlines the number of applications which were sanctioned for home tuition for the school year 2025/2026. It is important to note that in relation to children seeking a special school or class place, the number that were sanctioned is not an indicator of the number of children currently without a school place. Of the 131 children transitioning or requiring a special education needs placement (SEN), approximately two-thirds are attending an educational setting provided by a private group provider.

Home tuition can be required for a variety reasons such as for children who are transitioning into a placement, for children who have recently moved location or are new into the country and are being supported to find a new placement or for children whose placement may be breaking down and they are being supported to seek a new placement. The National Council for Special Education (NCSE) advise that there are available places in special classes around the country and will continue to support children seeking a placement during the school year.

Year	Autism Early Intervention (2.5 – 3yrs)	Pre-school children with autism who meet the scheme's eligibility criterial	Transitioning to/ Requiring SEN placement	Mental Health	Medical	Total
2025/2026*	5	340	131	31	18	525

* Information correct as of 04/09/2025.