Skip to main content
Normal View

Special Educational Needs

Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 18 January 2023

Wednesday, 18 January 2023

Questions (771)

Neale Richmond

Question:

771. Deputy Neale Richmond asked the Minister for Education the number of schools that provided July provision in the past five years, by county; the number of schools that propose to facilitate July provision in 2023, by county, in tabular form; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [1594/23]

View answer

Written answers

The purpose of the July Provision Scheme was to provide an extended school year for children with a severe or profound general learning disability or children with an Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). The scheme was developed to reduce potential regression in learning associated with these specific categories of special education needs over the summer holidays. Special schools and schools with special classes were permitted to run the school-based programme up until 2020.

In 2020 a significantly expanded summer programme was established as a response to COVID-19 with the eligibility criteria widened to include approximately 9,000 additional children with complex needs.

The programme aims were to ensure, in so far as possible, that these children could reintegrate/transition into their planned education setting for the next school year with their peers. As part of this expansion, the Department’s existing Literacy and Numeracy camps for DEIS Primary Band 1 schools was included in the Summer Programme and extended to all DEIS Primary schools. Furthermore, DEIS post-primary schools were given the option of running an inclusion scheme for the first time.

In 2021, due to the ongoing pandemic, the government announced a further expansion to the Summer Programme. Under this expansion, students with complex special educational needs and those at greatest risk of educational disadvantage had access to an enhanced summer programme of education. The total funding available to provide the programme was €40 million, which was a 100% increase on the allocation for summer provision in 2020. The range of schemes on offer built on the success of the expanded programme that ran in 2020 and incorporated feedback from education stakeholders. For the first time, all primary schools were given the opportunity to run a 2-3 week inclusion scheme, and the inclusion scheme that had run in DEIS post-primary schools in 2020 was expanded to all post-primary schools.

The 2022 programme continued to build on the 2021 programme.

For 2023, additional funding has been secured in Budget 2023 to run the programme to match the investment in 2021 and 2022 bringing the total funding available to €40m.

This will allow schools the certainty they require to let them plan for a summer programme in their school in 2023. In recent years my Department has made a range of additional resources and supports available to schools to encourage participation in this essential programme and it hoped that the early announcement of funding in Budget 2023 means that schools will be in a position to commit to running a programme.

My Department is currently finalising the details of the 2023 summer programme and details will be published as soon as possible. Following the launch of the programme, schools will be invited to register to participate and numbers of schools will only be available after this process takes place.

Due to the different structures of July Provision and the Summer Programme as outlined above, the information as requested by the Deputy is broken down to cover the years 2018-2020 and 2022 for the primary and post primary programmes, as well as a separate breakdown of the DEIS Literacy and Numeracy/Campai Samhraidh over the period 2018-2022.

2018-2020

211a Schools offering the Special Class & Special School Scheme

County

2018

2019

2020

Carlow

4

3

5

Cavan

7

7

7

Clare

7

6

7

Cork

26

27

31

Donegal

9

8

8

Dublin

44

38

49

Galway

21

22

19

Kerry

6

7

9

Kildare

20

17

14

Kilkenny

2

3

6

Laois

7

6

9

Longford

3

3

4

Louth

3

4

3

Mayo

4

5

2

Meath

7

8

5

Monaghan

4

4

4

Offaly

10

10

12

Roscommon

4

4

2

Sligo

4

3

3

Tipperary

12

10

12

Waterford

5

6

4

Westmeath

7

7

8

Wexford

14

14

15

Wicklow

1

2

6

Yearly Totals

239

232

254

1b 2020 – DEIS Post Primary Schools offering the Inclusion Scheme

County

Number of Schools

Carlow

1

Clare

13

Cork

8

Donegal

2

Dublin

23

Galway

5

Kerry

3

Kildare

1

Kilkenny

1

Laois

2

Leitrim

1

Limerick

2

Longford

1

Mayo

2

Meath

1

Offaly

1

Roscommon

2

Sligo

3

Total

72

2. 2021 and 2022

2a. Expanded Primary Programme

Note: Some schools ran both the Special Class & Special School Scheme and the Inclusion Scheme

2021 2022

County

Special Class & Special School Scheme

Inclusion Scheme

Special Class and Special Scheme AND Inclusion Scheme

Special Class & Special School Scheme

Inclusion Scheme

Special Class and Special Scheme AND Inclusion Scheme

Carlow

5

1

2

2

0

6

Cavan

2

8

4

4

5

13

Clare

2

7

8

11

6

11

Cork

25

26

21

25

24

61

Donegal

3

11

7

6

8

14

Dublin

31

28

50

36

28

89

Galway

7

23

19

13

29

20

Kerry

8

16

7

3

18

21

Kildare

9

11

11

10

11

14

Kilkenny

5

10

8

5

14

12

Laois

7

6

3

3

5

20

Leitrim

0

3

2

2

2

2

Limerick

7

9

9

5

12

24

Longford

3

2

1

0

1

11

Louth

4

7

1

1

6

11

Mayo

3

8

6

5

8

10

Meath

6

10

4

6

11

20

Monaghan

1

6

4

3

5

5

Offaly

9

5

7

7

4

24

Roscommon

1

6

4

4

5

2

Sligo

0

2

4

3

6

0

Tipperary

1

14

10

8

15

17

Waterford

2

5

5

6

6

7

Westmeath

4

6

9

10

5

10

Wexford

9

11

7

2

15

36

Wicklow

2

7

8

6

11

7

TOTALS

156

248

221

186

260

467

2b. Post-Primary Schools offering Inclusion scheme in 2021 and 2022

County

2021

2022

Carlow

1

1

Cavan

1

3

Clare

9

4

Cork

8

13

Donegal

8

9

Dublin

26

28

Galway

6

7

Kerry

2

5

Kildare

2

4

Kilkenny

0

2

Laois

1

0

Leitrim

2

0

Limerick

3

1

Longford

3

3

Louth

2

3

Mayo

5

4

Meath

2

1

Monaghan

2

5

Offaly

4

2

Roscommon

3

2

Sligo

5

1

Tipperary

4

5

Waterford

0

4

Westmeath

0

1

Wexford

0

6

Wicklow

0

3

Total

99

117

3. Number of DEIS Primary Schools that ran Literacy and Numeracy Camps (English and Gaeilge) 2018-2022

English

County

2018

2019

2020

2021

2022

Carlow

0

0

3

5

6

Cavan

3

2

2

2

3

Clare

0

1

1

2

7

Cork

4

5

14

19

13

Donegal

0

0

7

11

17

Dublin

19

21

70

66

68

Galway

2

2

7

10

8

Kerry

0

0

4

5

7

Kildare

0

0

1

2

1

Kilkenny

0

0

5

3

3

Laois

0

1

2

4

4

Leitrim

0

0

3

2

3

Limerick

3

3

7

7

12

Longford

3

2

8

8

10

Louth

2

3

7

9

8

Mayo

0

0

4

5

8

Meath

0

0

2

1

1

Monaghan

0

0

1

3

4

Offaly

0

0

5

7

7

Roscommon

0

0

6

3

4

Sligo

1

0

1

2

2

Tipperary

0

1

6

8

10

Waterford

4

1

6

7

6

Westmeath

0

0

3

2

4

Wexford

1

0

6

6

7

Wicklow

0

0

3

2

3

Totals

42

42

184

201

226

Gaeilge

County

2018

2019

2020

2021

2022

Cavan

1

1

1

1

2

Clare

1

1

0

1

1

Cork

2

5

7

6

4

Donegal

0

0

2

2

4

Dublin

18

16

9

12

9

Galway

0

1

1

3

2

Kerry

0

0

1

2

2

Laois

0

0

0

0

0

Limerick

0

0

0

0

0

Longford

3

3

4

3

2

Louth

1

1

1

1

2

Mayo

0

0

2

2

2

Monaghan

0

0

1

1

1

Sligo

0

0

0

0

0

Tipperary

0

0

0

0

0

Waterford

4

2

1

2

2

Wexford

0

0

0

1

1

Totals

30

30

30

37

34

Top
Share