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 is that students with additional learning needs are supported to attend school in person, as this provides the most inclusive and effective learning environment. However, there are circumstances where this is not possible, particularly for students with a significant medical condition or 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 such cases, my Department provides online supports, including:

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 attendance still applies. It remains the Department’s preference that home tuition is delivered in the home on a one-to-one basis. However, in recognition of exceptional circumstances, the Department may facilitate home tuition to take place online. This typically occurs where a student’s medical condition prevents in-person tuition or where a parent or legal guardian is experiencing difficulty in securing a tutor to attend the home.

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.

The Department has significantly increased funding to iScoil to expand the number of places available. In recent years, capacity has grown from 80 places to 180, and funding for a further 70 places has been secured in Budget 2026. This means that 250 students will be able to access iScoil in 2026. This provision is particularly suited to students whose medical assessments indicate school phobia or similar conditions, where an alternative, flexible learning approach is required.

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.