Jennifer Murnane O'Connor
Question:1. Deputy Jennifer Murnane O'Connor asked the Taoiseach when the Cabinet committee on children and education will meet next. [43822/23]
View answerTuesday, 24 October 2023
Questions (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10)
Pádraig O'Sullivan
Question:2. Deputy Pádraig O'Sullivan asked the Taoiseach when the Cabinet committee on children and education will meet next. [43823/23]
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Cian O'Callaghan
Question:3. Deputy Cian O'Callaghan asked the Taoiseach when the Cabinet committee on children and education will next meet. [43831/23]
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Richard Boyd Barrett
Question:4. Deputy Richard Boyd Barrett asked the Taoiseach when the Cabinet committee on children and education will next meet. [43867/23]
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Paul Murphy
Question:5. Deputy Paul Murphy asked the Taoiseach when the Cabinet committee on children and education will next meet. [43870/23]
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Mick Barry
Question:6. Deputy Mick Barry asked the Taoiseach when the Cabinet committee on children and education will next meet. [44962/23]
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Ruairí Ó Murchú
Question:7. Deputy Ruairí Ó Murchú asked the Taoiseach when the Cabinet committee on children and education will meet next. [46320/23]
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Alan Dillon
Question:8. Deputy Alan Dillon asked the Taoiseach when the Cabinet committee on children and education will meet next. [46343/23]
View answerMick Barry
Question:9. Deputy Mick Barry asked the Taoiseach when the Cabinet committee on children and education will next meet. [46493/23]
View answerCian O'Callaghan
Question:10. Deputy Cian O'Callaghan asked the Taoiseach when the Cabinet committee on children and education will next meet. [46599/23]
View answerOral answers (11 contributions)
I propose to take Questions Nos. 1 to 10, inclusive, together.
The Cabinet committee on children and education oversees the implementation of commitments in the programme for Government in the area of children and education, including further and higher education, with a specific focus on child poverty and well-being. The Cabinet committee on children and education met on Thursday, 13 July and Monday, 16 October. The next meeting of the Cabinet committee on children and education is due to take place before the end of the year.
I want to speak today about school builds. There are 27 projects ongoing under the large-scale and additional accommodation schemes in County Carlow.
Just nine modular accommodation projects are under way. To date in 2023, more than €425,000 has been paid in emergency works funding to Carlow schools. Yet I know of so many schools where children are being taught in prefabs and overcrowded and dated accommodation.
One school in Carlow has not progressed beyond stage 2A of the additional school accommodation scheme, even though the process began in 2019. The project information memorandum states that 18 months is the expected timeframe to reach stage 2A. It is now approaching three years since the fire officer was appointed in this case and I am at a loss to see what is happening. I have almost been knocking the Minister's door down and I am really trying to get this school over the line.
I was also in a school last week in Bagenalstown, which is in the same situation. It is in desperate need of better accommodation and a new school. In County Carlow, just three new special classes opened for 2023, one at primary level and two at post-primary level. This brings the total number of classes in County Carlow to 48.
I thank the Deputy.
While capacity has expanded, this is not enough. I wish to make the point to the Taoiseach that we have no special educational needs organiser, SENO, now and it is very hard for children to get places.
I raise an issue I came across in a small village called Watergrasshill, north of Cork city. It concerns the provision of a school-age childcare service. The long and the short of is that the provider of this service has English as her second language. She went in good faith to apply on the Pobal website for funding for the provision of her service. In error, she put in the tabulation that she had one child attending her service rather than 24. This was an error because she thought the question concerned how many services she was providing. This woman has no right to appeal and Pobal's response heretofore has been that she is now locked in for funding for the whole year. Whether the error was due to a language barrier issue or the wrong clicking of a mouse, this woman now has no right to appeal. She is providing a childcare service for 24 children but only being funded for one just because of what I think is an overly prescriptive interpretation of the guidelines. I ask the Taoiseach to write to Pobal or deal with the organisation in respect of having this woman's file reviewed or appealed in some way to give her the chance to get the appropriate funding.
Torren is 11, has autism spectrum disorder, ASD, is non-verbal, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, ADHD, and an intellectual disability. He has been homeschooled until now, but as he gets older his behaviour is deteriorating and his mother cannot cope. It has been recommended by the children's disability network team, CDNT, and the child and adolescent mental health service, CAMHS, that he get a school placement this year. Despite these recommendations and the support of the education and welfare officer and the SENO, no placement has been found. This is the second such case I have brought to the attention of the Dáil and still neither of these children have placements. Children have a right to an education, so I ask that something be done urgently about these cases.
Losing a child is the worst thing a parent can experience or even imagine. Aaron and Laura have, unfortunately, had to live this horrible reality. Their little girl, Ada, passed away suddenly on 26 October 2022. She was just two days short of being 20 months old. In Aaron's words, "she went to bed happy and healthy, such a great little kid. We have no concrete answers yet why she passed but we were told we will probably get none and it will be put down to SUDC. There are no supports in Ireland for this type of death at this age and no research at all". SUDC refers to a sudden unexplained death in childhood.
Aaron and Laura received only eight sessions of counselling, part-funded by a charity and part-funded by the State. It is completely inadequate. Will the Government commit to offering as many publicly funded counselling sessions as parents of children who die from sudden unexplained death in childhood need? Will the Government commit to put funding into this area to research it so parents can understand how and why this is happening? Will the Government also agree to run an awareness campaign so parents facing this grief will understand there are others who have suffered in the same way?
Ada's mam, Laura, and another parent who share this experience, have started a parents support group, You've Got a Friend in Us, but clearly these are things the State should be doing, as opposed to people having to do them voluntarily.
I wish to raise the case of St. Killian's Special School, a primary school in Mayfield in my constituency. This school has 93 students and is set to expand to 120, making it, potentially, the largest special school in all of Munster. The school has students with severe dyslexia, severe dyspraxia, severe speech and language difficulties and a big majority of the students have autism and complex needs.
To say this school is under-resourced would be quite the understatement. The school is currently short two psychologists, two occupational therapists, two speech and language therapists, two behavioural therapists and at least one social worker. The school was promised by the Minister of State, Deputy Rabbitte, that the therapists would be back in place by 2022. When this failed to materialise, the school was promised by the Minister of State that the therapists would be back in place by May 2023. This has not happened. Will the Taoiseach take this case as an urgent one and will he tell the people who organise the school and the parents when this allocation is going to happen?
We have spoken before about autism and the lack of services we have concerning speech and language therapists, SLTs, occupational therapists, OTs, psychologists, physiotherapists and all that is required in this regard. Could I get an update concerning the school inclusion model pilot that was being operated? The idea of this is to put the service where the need is. Could we see about having a review and then an expansion beyond the pilot? Could we also look, from a parent's perspective, at the admissions process? Would it be possible to have an allowance for parents to be able to apply two years beforehand if they have disabled children from the point of view of ensuring the schools concerned would have their ducks in a row regarding all the resources required?
I also wish to raise the issue of The Changing Lives Initiative, which deals with strategies for parents of children who present with ADHD. It is being operated in counties Louth and Meath and slightly beyond. Additionally, an expansion beyond this pilot is being sought. Deputy Mark Ward is sponsoring a briefing in this regard in the audiovisual room tomorrow and my wife will be very glad I raised this issue because she may be attending.
I raise my deep concern around the alarming rise in vaping among schoolchildren, especially the widespread use of disposable vaping devices. In recent weeks, I have received numerous calls from concerned teachers and parents regarding the escalating prevalence of vaping among students in primary and secondary schools. The issue is not confined to school grounds but is also evident in public spaces where students congregate and engage in vaping activities. The case of a ten-year-old child caught vaping in a primary school is particularly disturbing. It highlights the severity of this issue and the potential detrimental health consequences of vaping, especially among young developing bodies.
While I commend the introduction of the Public Health (Tobacco and Nicotine Inhaling Products) Bill 2023, we need to take more comprehensive measures to address the issue. I propose a comprehensive ban on vaping on school premises. This would certainly create a healthy learning environment and discourage this harmful practice. We must also implement an educational programme that specifically addresses the dangers of vaping. This programme should dispel any misconceptions around vaping and deter students from engaging in this trend. Will the Government take immediate action to address the growing concerns in schools and act now to protect the health and well-being of our young people?
I thank the Deputies for their contributions. Deputy Murnane O'Connor raised the issue of the school building programme, with particular relevance to County Carlow. We have an extensive school building programme under way throughout the country.
More than €1 billion per year is spent on new schools, extensions and refurbishments. In my constituency last Friday I had the privilege to carry out the official opening of the new Pelletstown Educate Together National School. Anyone who has been in a newly built school or had the privilege to attend an official opening will know how high-quality new school buildings are. This gives us an insight into how much needs to be done to modernise, refurbish and replace some of the older buildings. It is never possible to do every project in any one year or as quickly as we would like, but there is a very extensive pipeline of projects that I know the Minister is working very hard to accelerate and to make sure they progress over the coming years.
Deputy O'Sullivan referred to an issue in relation to childcare in Watergrasshill. I do not know exactly how Pobal systems work. It seems a bit strange there is no right of appeal or right of correction. If somebody makes an honest mistake, they have made an honest mistake. We have all done it ourselves at some point in the past. I do not know all the facts but it sounds a bit harsh if it is that simple. If the Deputy wants to give me some details on that, we will follow it up with them and see what we can do.
Deputy Dillon raised the issue of vaping by children in schools. It is both a health issue and an environmental issue. It is a health issue because it is addictive, and an environmental issue because of the waste caused by the discarding of disposable vapes. Legislation is coming through that will ban the sale of vapes to minors and bring in a licensing system so that only recognised stores are able to sell vapes. We will take a look at a ban in schools. There is some merit in that idea. It might be the case that schools on their own can make it against the rules without the need for legislation. We will certainly look at that. The Deputy's suggestion of an education campaign targeted at young people to inform them of the risks is a very good suggestion too. I will speak to the Minister of State, Deputy Naughton, about that.
Deputy Boyd Barrett raised two specific individual cases. I do not have the details of them. If he would like to pass them on, I will certainly raise them with the Minister of State, Deputy Madigan. We do our best to find school places for everyone. Where it is not always possible or where we cannot, home tuition is often used as the backup option.
Deputy Murphy also raised a specific individual case of baby Ada. It sounds like a very sad case. I want to express my condolences to the parents and to the family involved. I have encountered sudden infant death syndrome, SIDS - not in my personal life but in my medical practice - and I have at least some sense of the impact it has on families and on parents in particular. While I cannot make any commitments on the hoof in the House, I will certainly raise it with the Minister, Deputy Stephen Donnelly, to see if there is more we can do to help parents and help families who are affected by it, and also to carry out further research.
Deputy Barry raised the issue of St. Kilian's special school in Mayfield and the need to put therapists in place. I will certainly follow this up with the Minister of State, Deputy Rabbitte, and see what the situation is.
Deputy Ó Murchú raised issue of autism and the school inclusion pilot model that was putting therapists into schools to see if that was more effective than through the HSE system. I believe the initial report on it was very favourable and it was then intended to extend it to other areas. I am not sure where it has gone from there so I will certainly make inquiries, out of my own interest, but I will also get back to the Deputy about it too.