The bus has just come.

I thank the Deputy for his kind comments, although I noted a "but" towards the end of them. In recent months, while I have been in this role, I have seen right across the Chamber the commitment to education of all the spokespersons and Members of the House. The Deputy did a huge amount of work in relation to the Rahan school bus. That is what all of us should be doing because the future of our people rests on education and how to get it. We were delighted to work with the Deputy on that matter. School secretaries a…

To be absolutely fair, a Labour Court hearing will take place on 12 January 2026 and it would be against all procedures for me to come in here and undermine negotiations that are ongoing and the detailed work that is going on. As I said at the outset, I understand the position of the caretakers and secretaries, and I understand the Deputy's person involvement in the issue. I compliment his grandmother and others who have kept education running in many communities. When you walk into a school, the school secretary i…

We in the Department, across the Government and across the House support secretaries and caretakers. Earlier this year when they went as far as industrial action, many people stood with them because they understood and accepted the importance of caretakers and secretaries to school communities. It is important that we give that voice across the House, whether those speaking are in government or in opposition. We must give a voice to the issue because it gives a clear indication to us and the Department of the stren…

The Government is committed to increasing funding to support schools and the programme for Government commits to increasing capitation funding to schools of all types to ensure they can meet day-to-day running costs. Schools have autonomy in their spending, allowing them to make decisions on spending independently at school level. The financial support services unit, FSSU, funded by the Department is an important source of advice and support to schools on financial matters, including budgeting and cash flow managem…

The next capitation grant payments due to primary and post-primary schools will be paid in January 2026. The Department is committing to offering all available and appropriate supports to schools experiencing financial difficulties and advises any such schools to engage early with the Department and FSSU. We increased them, and I think it is important that we put a long-term footing in place in relation to the capitation grants and that there is not just a once-off approach but a sensible way of making sure the cap…

The capitation grant increases in several budgets in recent years have been there. This means there is a serious commitment to education right across the system. We have record funding in the Department to meet the needs of student communities and make sure they have the best possible outcomes. Investment in education continues. This is the case whether it is in special or mainstream education, and the Government is very much committed to it. We are not blind to the challenges at school gates or in school communiti…

Budget 2026 provides funding for 3,000 new special educational places within our education system for the 2026-27 school year. As the number of special classes and special schools continues to grow, there is also additional capacity created each year through the natural movement of children from primary to post-primary, leaving post-primary and with vacancies in individual classes. In order to ensure new special classes can open as quickly as possible, the National Council for Special Education and the Department o…

We have developed an extremely convoluted system of getting appropriate school places for children. That system was developed over many years and it causes frustration for families, children and school communities. I will deal with the 1 October deadline first. The deadline was brought back from 1 February to 1 October to get a better handle on the system and to understand the level of need earlier in the school year. We will be sanctioning classes in the next couple of days, which is four months earlier than last …

Families have been contacting the NCSE after 1 October, even though the portal is closed. They have contacted their local SENOs and the NCSE informing them that their children will need specialised places in September 2026, either in a special class in a special school or supported within a mainstream school. We will work with all of those families. We are going to continue to work with them and nobody will be forgotten within the system-----

Since 1 October, quite a number of families have contacted the NCSE-----

-----through their SENO or directly. They have made contact through the local SENO, which is hugely important. They have contacted us and we are looking at those figures. We have brought the deadline forward to 1 October this year. We have to have a deadline because if we do not have one into the future, and if we constantly break that deadline, it will not work. We need to be sure of the numbers earlier within the system so that we can properly plan and make decisions and families can know with certainty early in …

I thank Deputy Boyd Barrett for the question. First of all, I want to welcome him back. It is great to see him and I wish him the very best of luck in everything. To say that I find the question in front of me and the challenges faced by survivors challenging would be an understatement. It is extremely distressing even to read or study some of the documentation in relation to this. I find it horrendous to hear the legacy that has been left and the damage that has been done to the man the Deputy calls Stephen, not j…

I take that point. I have met many families and survivors who have suffered enormous trauma such as the Deputy has outlined. Horrendous crimes were committed against them. People pass on and the family, the next generation, carry that challenge in respect of how their parents were treated in school. It is not just for the victims themselves but for the families. In many of the cases I have been involved with, the families have really been challenged. There is one commitment that I will give. The interdepartmental g…

I will give the Deputy a commitment that we will work to make sure the timelines set out within the system are adhered to. A lot of work is ongoing across Government Departments in that regard. I appreciate that commitments are often given in relation to timelines but then, for a number of reasons, those timelines are not met. This cannot be missed. It has to be on time. Over the past 30 or 40 years, we have dealt with revelations and issues relating to abuse in our school system. We are still trying to come to ter…

I am pleased to assure the House that there are more than sufficient places for all local children in the area referred to by the Deputy. While primary enrolments have been declining in the area since 2018, 16% of first year places at post-primary schools went unfilled for the last school year. This reflects an overall decline in post-primary enrolments for the area since 2023 and the fact that there are more first year places available than sixth class students in the area for the forthcoming school year. Enrolmen…

There were a number of questions there, along with a number of grenades. The planning and building unit in the Department is very conscious that we need to ensure adequate capacity right across the system in primary schools, post-primary schools, special classes and special schools. We are working to that. Resources are not endless but it is important to work with what is available. The Deputy raised the issue of school choice and so forth. There is a lot of work and research going on behind the scenes in that rega…

The information has been given to the Department and work is ongoing in relation to it. Regarding the education convention, the Deputy reflected the truth in the phrase he used when he said that every sector would be there fighting its corner. However, I genuinely believe that this is a very serious attempt being made by the Department of education to engage with all the stakeholders in a meaningful way to embrace all the issues that are out there. We have to drop the sense that you either have to fight your corner…

I thank the Deputy for his kind comments and also for his engagement on education. The opening of St. Michael's House Special National School was a wonderful day. I congratulate that community for the day and also for the work they do and the atmosphere that was within that school. We do not acknowledge enough the commitment to the work that school leadership and school teams do within special schools and right across schools. I can confirm to the Deputy that the school to which he refers has been approved for acco…

I accept that totally. The school authority, together with the National Council for Special Education and the Department, came up with a contingency plan. I welcome that they put a contingency plan in place but there is a planning issue here that is outside the role of the Department. As of yesterday, my information is that the local authority has requested further information in respect of the planning application. It is important that this be responded to and we expedite it. As we have populated these classes, th…