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Special Educational Needs

Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 30 July 2020

Thursday, 30 July 2020

Questions (14)

Aengus Ó Snodaigh

Question:

14. Deputy Aengus Ó Snodaigh asked the Minister for Education and Skills the steps that have been taken to establish a special school at a school (details supplied). [19032/20]

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Oral answers (6 contributions)

This question concerns the need for a special school in the Dublin 12 area. An appropriate school has been identified for several years. There has been communication with parents, a patron, the owners of the school, the Department and the National Council for Special Education, but there does not seem to have been any progress to date.

I thank the Deputy for his question. As I mentioned earlier, enabling children with special educational needs to receive an education appropriate to their needs is a priority for this Government. Almost 20% of the education Vote, about €1.9 billion, is currently invested in supporting children with special needs.

Notwithstanding this investment, there are some parts of the country, especially Cork and south Dublin, which I discussed earlier, where increases in population and other issues have led to concerns regarding a shortage of school places for next September. The National Council for Special Education is interrogating this and exploring the available options. It has primary responsibility for co-ordinating and advising on special education provision for children nationwide. It has extensive engagement with schools, patrons, parents and others across south Dublin.

Normally special school places are found through the reasonable efforts and full co-operation of everybody involved. Sometimes, however, this does not happen and we must engage with the relevant legislation, that is, section 37A of the Education Act 1998, as amended. This is an absolute priority of mine. I know that Scoil Colm, to which the Deputy has referred, includes another special school, Scoil Eoin, which has 150 pupils. There is potential for an additional four classrooms there. According to my deliberations and the considerations we have taken into account, the school would still come up short. However, we are working through this. The NCSE and the Archdiocese of Dublin met yesterday. The Christian Brothers own the school, but the archdiocese is assisting us in that regard. Talks are ongoing.

I thank the Minister. It is good to see a little bit of progress given the fact that this has been ongoing for several years. I cannot see how Scoil Colm could be inappropriate. There is a campus of educational facilities in the vicinity. Many of the parents are frustrated by the need to leave one child at the school and bring their other child home because places are not available. The Minister has already identified the huge number of students in south Dublin who do not have places in schools. Students' places have been delayed and deferred, and some have even been rejected for educational opportunities because of the way the system works.

Will the Minister of State undertake to accelerate discussion on this to ensure that a special school opens for those children, who in many cases have the greatest educational needs, in September, and that a patron will be available to take on the work if the owners of the building allow it? I ask for urgency.

I reassure the Deputy that this process has been accelerated for some time, going back to December 2019. There were information sessions in January and there was a public forum with Involve Autism, which I met, and other relevant advocacy groups. There was also extensive consultation with some of the schools. The Department will also determine whether other accommodation options are available and can be identified. The NCSE will also continue to liaise with special schools in the area where places may since have become available that we were not aware of at the time. A site visit will also take place on Scoil Colm together with further contact with the trustees and principals of Scoil Eoin. If there is to be an expansion, although I am not saying there will be one, we do not want in any way to discommode the pupils of Scoil Eoin.

There has been cross-party support for this. My colleagues from the constituency also wish to ask a supplementary question.

Site visits will be arranged if necessary to ascertain any potential for extensions with three other special schools. It is always the aim of the Department and the NCSE to accommodate every child who has special needs. As I have said consistently this morning, I am determined to eradicate this lack of provision. I do not want it to be the case in the future that there is a perennial issue of an absence of places for children with special needs. It is simply not good enough and it should not happen. We have sufficient funding. It is about planning ahead and I intend to bring targeted action in that respect. For those children with special needs who do not get a place at any stage, the 20-hours home grant tuition scheme is available. That is not ideal, however, and it is only an interim measure until a place is found for all children.

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