Rose Conway-Walsh presses for urgent nurture room funding

Thank you for the opportunity to raise this issue on behalf of the staff and the pupils in the community of St Brendan's College, Belmollet. Minister, we are asking today for urgent interim funding for a nurture room at a school for students with additional and special needs. This funding would allow the school to act now and provide a much-needed facility for their community, rather than having to wait indefinitely for long-promised extension works. So let me outline some of the recent history of the funding allocated to St Brendan's College for extension works. These works were approved as far back as 2009 under the additional accommodation scheme for seven classrooms and two specialist educational units. That project is now at stage 2A and has been sitting with the department for several months. In reality, however, this approval is eight years old and the school is still waiting for construction to begin. Now, Minister, I know that you will agree you're a practical person. That is absolutely far too long. You'll have pupils who weren't even at the school that time who have come out the other end who haven't benefited for what was promised then. Now, in the meantime, staff and students continue to work in prefabricated buildings installed in 1991 and 1992. That's over 30 years ago, Minister. These prefabs are well beyond their intended lifespan and, as you can imagine, they are no longer fit for purpose. They suffer from water ingress, from inadequate heating, from ongoing structural deterioration and mould. Despite this, the school was forced to spend €15,000 of its own annual budget this year alone, just to keep these units usable for students throughout the winter. This is not a sustainable or an acceptable position for any school, but particularly for a school that's serving a community with significant disadvantage. St. Brendan's is a Jesh school in a Gaelthock area. Over 70% of students come from the primary schools in Eris, a geographically isolated area the size of County Lowth. The demand for such educational provision and sensory support has grown significantly, yet the physical infrastructure of the school has not kept pace. The principal and the teachers and the Board of Management in St. Brendan's, I cannot praise them enough. I know that from my own experience because my own two boys went to that school and received a wonderful education there. While the department and the ETB have advised the school to wait for the long-promised extension, the reality is that students cannot wait. Right now in the school, several students urgently need access to a quiet space or a nurture room to help them manage their emotions, anxiety and sensory overload. Without such a space, their ability to engage in learning, remain in school and reach their potential is compromised. In response, the school's management has taken a proactive approach. Rather than waiting indefinitely, it has identified a small portable building that could be placed on the site and converted into a sensory room. This is a modest, practical and cost-effective solution. The school community has already raised almost €8,000, demonstrating strong local commitment and support. However, they require a total of €15,000 to make this project viable. Minister, my question is simple but urgent. Are there any funding streams, grants or discretionary supports available that would allow St Brendan's to meet the immediate needs of its most vulnerable students while the larger extension project for the school remains delayed and it shouldn't remain delayed? This request is not about replacing the long-awaited extension. It is about ensuring that children who need the supports today are not left without it because of the processes that move too slowly. Goera Maga. Thank you very much, Deputy, for raising the issue in relation to St Brendan's College in Belmullet. I really appreciate it. I suppose the one thing that I always, when people raise issues and they have the experience of having families within the schools, and the tribute that you have paid to the team in St Brendan's, I know, is genuine and I'd like to cover that because there's a huge amount of work going on across the education system. You raised the issue in relation to what we can do. I suppose we are spending a huge amount of money in terms of special education right across, you know, to try and make sure that we have the best services available for children with additional needs across both primary and post-primary education. The Department and the NCSE, and I can assure you since my appointment almost a year ago, that I have worked extremely hard with the Department and the NCSE to make sure that we are providing the best possible resources across the education system. And I suppose, you know, in all the decisions that have been taken in terms of additional accommodation or new bills, that special education is built into that as part of the, you know, it's standard at this stage that we need any investment that's being put in by the Department of Education and the state and by the taxpayers is to ensure that there is a special education provision right across the country to ensure that we can bring special education as close as possible. The question that you put to me very simply is in terms of the nurture room and I suppose in the first instance I have seen across the country in many of the schools that we have visited, the imaginative systems that the schools have put in place to try and put a nurture room in place. And I accept absolutely that nurture rooms are a hugely important piece of infrastructure to try and ensure that children with additional needs have the best possible education experience. You know, there are some funding mechanisms in relation to where we put on additional classes where we can reconfigure existing spaces and stuff. But I suppose there's one thing that we have spoken about, both the previous Minister Helen McEntee and I had a number of occasions and again the new Minister Hildegard Nocton and I in relation to putting a fund in place because a lot of schools are coming to us and saying we have raised or the Parents' Association have raised funding and it's something that we have looked at very clearly. I suppose, you know, you have outlined the journey that the St. Brendan's have taken in relation to the additional accommodation on the new build and the extension and yes, you are right, you know, there's an awful lot of students that have probably been in the school when all these plans were put in place and have long since gone into adulthood and are working with, went outside the system. But it is something that, first of all, there's two things that I will do on foot of this topical issue this morning. I will go back to the department in relation to see is there any mechanism we can do for an immediate. The second thing that I will be very committed to is we need to put a very simple funding stream in place for nurture rooms or for quiet spaces because in mainstream education where they may not have a special class or may not have a special unit, they have children that would have additional needs and if there is a quiet space there, it helps with the education environment. It is something that we have looked at. A lot of schools would have gone out and raised funds in relation to sensory gardens or quiet spaces and these are all hugely important pieces of the education system and the best possible experience. But I suppose there's two things. I will first of all go back in relation to is there any way that we can help with the immediate request and also that we will be looking at trying to find, you know, to have a route for schools into the future for funding, a funding stream for nurture rooms or quiet spaces that would benefit the education system. I do appreciate that and I know you are genuine when you say that you will do that with St. Brendan's because doing so would send a clear message that while we plan for the future, we do not abandon the students at the present. So I look forward to some movement on that issue because this is a very small investment in terms of the interim measure that would have a profound impact on the students who need that space. Minister, this is about fairness, it is about urgency and it is about care and it is about ensuring that children who need support are not left behind while waiting for buildings that may still be years away. Minister, I would ask you as well, the nine years with the Department, if you can just, I think we really need to, can you imagine even from a public expenditure point of view, if that was done when it was planned, when it was approved, how much would be, would the exchequer would have saved? Never mind all the children in the meantime that would have benefited from having those additional, that additional space and those additional rooms there that are desperately needed. We are fortunate that, you know, there is the demand there for that school and that the numbers are increasing. We see in many rural schools where the numbers are decreasing, but I think it really speaks to the excellence of the students and the management within that school, of the teachers and the management within that school. And indeed I have to praise the other two secondary schools in Eris as well who do excellent work. It is one of the key advantages of living in that area because the education that is provided there. So I would ask you to go back to the Department as well to say to them, look, nine years is too long. Can you get a move on this project to get the main project done? And in the meantime, just the small bit of money that will make a huge and profound difference to the work that the teachers are doing there and that the students are doing. So on behalf of students and the teachers there and the principal there, I would like to thank you for your response. Thank you, sir. Just, if I may, Deputy, it was remiss of me at the very start, your colleague, Deputy David, raised an issue in relation to the HSE and the Department of Education. That is something that I would follow up from our side as well about getting the Donald Walsh video. It was remiss of me at the outset of it. But that being said, in relation to St Brendan's, I will go back to the Planning and Building Unit and we will see where that is at. I do take the point in relation to funding and, you know, faster, like cost of building is going to increase. It has increased dramatically over the last while and it is going to continue to increase. So the sooner we get these projects up and running. And I can assure you that in all these projects, we are very much aware of special education and we're putting it central in all applications to make sure that we are providing for special education. And we will look at, into the future, looking at how we can accommodate mainstream education in terms of nurture rooms or quiet spaces or sensory gardens as well, because a lot of school communities are fundraising for that. So that's something I will look at. And without any, you know, guarantees or anything, we will see is there any way of funding it. We will do what we can on it. And if we can, we will. If we can't, we will be letting you know as well. But we certainly will follow up on the issues that you've raised. Okay. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. We're good. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. And all to the honest moment, you must be Wissenschaftla,