Gabhaim buíochas leis an Teachta. If memory serves, in a previous incarnation in a previous life, he raised this issue at an education committee. That is going back some time. I thank him for raising and outlining the issue in relation to Lucan Community College. The Department of Education and Youth is progressing the delivery of a large timber frame modular extension to Lucan Community College. The project will deliver nine additional classrooms, a science laboratory and preparation area and a design and technica…

I thank the Deputy for outlining the challenges within the school community as well. It is important we have the best possible school environment for all students. Every student, no matter what their ability, must have a positive experience within the school. Phase 1 of the project is on-site and for delivery. The quality of the building going in is top class, as I understand it. That is moving at pace. The Deputy is looking for clarity in relation to how we are going to do the next phases of the project. I will li…

I thank the Deputies for raising the issue. I compliment them as constituency TDs because nearly every issue they raise is done on a cross-party basis. It is great to see it because education is so important. It is very important to be unified. We have had a number of issues with the Deputies we are working on but it is important to acknowledge the co-operation they have on this. This shows me the challenges there are in relation to the school and the decision that was taken. A major project for the school was to b…

With any funding going in from the State to new schools and buildings, it is important we have the special education part of it as well. That is a decision that has been taken by us in the Department to ensure we are accommodating children with additional needs within any new build. I take the point it has been 12 years. There was mention of 2011 and 2014. It has been too long. There is a report in with the Department and I will endeavour to find out where that is at. I also take the point that sometimes we spend a…

I will take this in two parts. I thank the Senator very much. I know her huge interest in education, including special education, goes back a long time. She and I have worked together in various capacities over the last while. I, therefore, accept the Senator's bona fides on these issues. I will go through the building project for St. Anne's Special School in the Curragh. The project is included in the Department of education's construction programme, which will be delivered under the national development plan as p…

I do, unfortunately. I have been warned to be in the-----

It is an eight-minute bell.

If the bell stops, I will still have time to get to the Chamber.

The Senator has undertaken to do that and will come back to us on it. The principals, wider leaderships and entire school communities in special schools, be they teachers, special needs assistants, SNAs, or bus escorts, are super human beings and do amazing work for our most vulnerable.

I thank St. Anne's team for the work it does. We are commencing this weekend a regional engagement with all the leaders of special schools in locations around the country to see the challenges they are facing. We are meeting the principals to have informal discussions. We begin in Sligo this week and we have a number of others over the next couple of weeks. We want to get a sense. I have had meetings with special schools in terms of the insurance and funding mechanisms, and we have done some work in relation to the…

I welcome all the distinguished guests to Leinster House. I hope they enjoy their day. It is always a special day when students or anybody visits the seat of Dáil Éireann and Seanad Éireann. I hope they enjoy their day and whatever benefit is in it. I did not realise that the Acting Chairperson had the imprimatur to give homework off. It is something I must look up the Standing Orders for.

Would there be any chance that-----

I thank Senator O'Reilly for raising the issue. In the first instance this year, as opposed to other years, we have started the sanctioning of classes much earlier. We have 432 classes sanctioned already. That is because we had an earlier date for notification of 1 October. An awful lot of forward planning is being done in relation to special education and over the past number of years, the amount of money that has been put into primary and post-primary education has been absolutely huge by any yardstick. It is als…

I cannot accept that there is overcrowding. We are looking at how best to ensure teachers, SNAs and support teams are in place to encourage students and to make sure we are as inclusive as possible. Not every student can be mainstreamed but we need to make sure that where it is possible we have the best possible support in place. It is also taking a child with special educational needs through primary school and post-primary school and equipping them as best we can for life after school as well. That is the premise…

I thank the Deputies for the opportunity to speak in the debate. I thank everybody who has contributed so sincerely and genuinely this evening. They can rest assured that both the Minister, Deputy Naughton, and I will take due recognition of each and every one of the points that has been made. The old Irish saying that it takes a village to raise a child is never truer than when a child has special needs. It takes an extraordinary school community to ensure that a child can flourish. I want to use this opportunity …

I thank Senator Andrews for raising the issues in relation to the schools in Westland Row and Ringsend. In the overall sense, the Department has a number of funding streams in emergency funding and summer works funding to deal with ongoing maintenance issues. The Senator outlined the issues in relation to downpipes and toilets. I understand the challenges when you are working in a building that is old and needs constant upgrading. That can dampen the spirit not alone of the teams teaching and working there, the SNA…

They are amalgamating and becoming one school from 1 September 2026. The roll numbers were taken. In my experience of amalgamations, where everything has been worked out very well and to allocate resources afterwards, even last year, in a number of schools in which we were involved and they were allocating resources for SNA or teachers, the two old roll numbers stayed in place until the end of the school year. To allocate the resources, we had to wait for the new school number. We just have to push through these te…

I thank the Deputies for raising the issue in relation to the secondary school in Ballyfermot. From childhood, I have heard of the St. John's College on Le Fanu Road, Ballyfermot, so it is no stranger to me. I know the school. I have been in the school a number of times in a private capacity, and I have also met with some of the team there in different roles over the past 12 months. I take the opportunity of thanking the Deputies for raising the issue. They spoke about the three colleges coming together, St. John's…

I certainly will take up the invitation to visit the school as soon as is humanly possible. I know there is a lot of great work going on at all levels of education within the school campuses. On foot of this debate, we need to make sure that the practical steps are being taken as regards the project team and planning permission, and on to other work. We need to make sure that we have sight of this and that there is meaningful engagement between the Department and the school communities. There is always huge excitem…

I thank the Deputy for raising the issue. We published the plan indicating the amount we will put into the NDP and the sectoral plan on education over the next three or four years. While we have the large figures and a huge amount of capital investment in it, and we announced which schools would be going over the next while, there is continuing engagement in the Department. The Deputy has raised four schools and the challenge we have is to ensure that when commitments are given by the Department to build, extend an…