Senator John McGahon- speech from 28 Jun 2022

Thank you very much, Lasky Heerlach. Minister, thank you for coming today to discuss this issue. It is certainly an important issue for me, and more importantly, it is a very important issue for the community of the Cooley Peninsula in North Louth. This issue was brought to my attention a week and a half ago by Sheila Murnaghan, who is the principal of Monksland National School. And it was brought to my attention because of the inability perhaps of Sheila to successfully engage with the department over a number of months after the department approached Monksland National School in January of this year to ask would they like a second, would they like two special classrooms to cater for pupils with autism. Naturally enough, Sheila and the Board of Management jumped at such a proposal, were delighted to have been asked, and thought that, okay, this could be September 2023, we'll be able to have children ready for that. They came back and said, no, we actually want it in September 2022. So straight away that shows you, that's excellent. That shows you the ambitiousness of the department in being able to provide special classrooms for children with autism. On the back of that, the local community, you know, and the pupils who would avail of this were identified, and we pretty much now have about 10 children, which covers nine families, who are enrolled 1st September 2022. This week we approach the 1st of July, which means the 1st of September is roughly eight weeks away by the end of this week. And as of yet, we still are waiting for the final confirmation from the department that the money will be made available. I have it all here, Minister. I have it all here in terms of the timeline from when the department first got in touch on January, in January the 26th. And look, without looking to cast assertion or cast blame, because that stuff is in the past, and I'm coming here to the floor of the Shanda today on behalf of the parents, pupils and teachers of Monk Plans National School to get this project over the line. I'm not trying to put a portion of blame to anyone within the department whatsoever. But what I would say is the current state of play at the moment is, a number of weeks ago, a submission was sent in in terms of the costs that would be needed to go ahead with this. That was supplied by the planner. Only last week, after I raised this in the Shannon, did the department get back in touch to say we actually need a further breakdown of those costs. That breakdown is now going back into the department, and hopefully once that breakdown goes back into the department, they will be able to approve it straight away. And while we only have eight weeks left to make sure that these two classrooms are built and are ready to welcome new students in September, I think we can do it within those eight weeks. But let's be very, very clear about it. That is an incredibly short time frame to get the level of infrastructure and facilities into a small rural national school in North Louth over eight weeks. I really firmly believe that there was quite a delay through administrative errors on the department's side. But look, as I said, I'm not coming here to the floor of the Shannon to try and find a scapegoat. I'm coming here to try and find a solution. And, Minister, what I would really hope is that through your offices and through the offices of Minister Foley and Minister Josephine Madigan, that when the final bit of paperwork, which is the case of a further, more detailed breakdown of the costs, is submitted, that there will be absolutely no delay in the decision from the department that it will be approved, and then that we can get on with having this school built for the community and the students that dramatically need it come this September. Thank you very much indeed, Senator McGahan. Minister, please. I'm taking this commencement matter on behalf of my colleague, Minister of Education, Norma Foley, TD, who is regrettably unavailable. I wish to thank you, Senator McGahan, for raising the matter as it provides the Minister with the opportunity to outline the current position in relation to the accommodation needs of Monksland National School, Carlingford, County Loud, and to the government's firm commitment to enabling students with additional needs to receive an education appropriate to those needs. Monksland National School, as you're aware, is a co-educational national school, which caters for pupils from junior infants to sixth class. The school had an enrolment of 132 pupils in the year 2021-2022, with a mainstream staffing complement of principal plus four mainstream teachers for the current academic year. In addition, the school has two special education support teaching posts. This year, Department of Education will invest in excess of $2 billion, or over 25% of the Department's budget in the area of special education needs support. And as a result, the number of special education teachers, special needs assistants, and special class and school places are at unprecedented levels. In this academic year, there are 2,148 special classes in schools across the country. Of these, almost 1,900 special classes catered for students with autism. The National Council for Special Education has a responsibility for coordinating and advising on the education provision for children with special education needs nationwide. A range of strategic initiatives have been put in place with the NCSE in recent years to support and expand special education need provision in schools throughout the country. These initiatives include enhanced arrangements for the planning and coordination of SEN provision requirements involving Department, NCSE, and key stakeholders such as patrons and management bodies. Our planning utilises the Department of Education's Geographic Information Management System to support a strategic and coordinated approach to delivery of SEN provisions. This includes real-time data on capacity across the school system. This has resulted in a more streamlined and joined-up planning process, which has ensured a targeted approach to meet demand for special education placements. The Department of Education is satisfied that this approach is delivering. The intensive intervention has seen over 300 special classes already opened nationwide for 2021-2022 school year, as well as the establishment of two new special schools in Cork and Dublin last September. The targeted approach will continue in identifying and meeting demand for special education placements throughout the country. The NCSE, through the network of CINOS, are currently engaging in a process of establishing two new ESD classes amongst the national schools for the year 2022-2023 school year. Two ESD and ESD special classes were sanctioned by the NCSE on the 9 February 2022 to meet expected demand in the area. When the NCSE sanctioned a special class in a school, primary or post-primary, it is open to the school authority to apply to the Department for capital funding to reconfigure any existing spaces within the school building to accommodate the class or to construct additional accommodation under the Department's additional school accommodation. ASA application forms are available on the Department's website www.education.ie. Thank you very much indeed, Minister Feehan, and thank you, Senator McGahan, for raising the matter in the first instance. And thanks, Senator Feehan, for being with us for a long morning. Or, Minister Feehan, my apologies. Senator Emeritus and Minister, can I welcome our visitor on the gallery? Good to have you here. I am sure you have noticed now that all politics is local. So, we are moving on now. The House stances... Sorry, I have a reply, Cairlock. One minute reply. Oh, one minute. Forgive me. Yeah, absolutely. And just before the minute starts, if that is all right, Cairlock, just because we were delayed earlier. It is my absolute pleasure to have Nicole here today, who is from Dundalk and has just finished her leave insert and is going on to become a nurse in September. But we might, hopefully, have her interested in politics by the end of this week interning in my office. Just to come back to the end of that, Minister, if that is possible, I really appreciate you coming in to do this. I think the point here is that, as your sponsor said, there is a very significant school building program happening right across the state. That is absolutely correct. But, and I have the timeline here, I have it in black and white, when there is 38 days between a school principal and the department coming back with an update between emails. That does not add up to me that we are able to build on a significant building program when principals, like Sheila Murnaghan, in Mungselen National School, is having to consistently chase the department and sections within the department to see if they can get their classrooms across the line. It is there in black and white. I will not go into it because I do not want to dilly over the mistakes of the past. What I want is a solution here for the Cooley Peninsula. I want a solution for Mungselen National School, for Sheila, for the Board of Management. But most importantly, what we want is a solution for the pupils who will be starting there on the 1st of September. And I know, Minister, through your good offices, you will bring that point back to Minister Foley and Minister Madigan. And I really hope when the final bit of information goes in, the department will approve this without any further delay. Thank you, Senator. My apologies for cutting it off. I was trying to give the Minister a happy break from here. Thank you, Senator, and I want to thank you for raising this very important issue. Mungselen National School submitted an ASA application in March 2022, requesting funding for refurbishment of rooms to accommodate an SEN class, sanctioned by the NCSE. Further comment information was requested from the school by officials in the Department of Education in relation to this application and was received in April 2022. The school's application has been assessed and a decision issued directly to the school's authorities with regard to the proposed permanent accommodation. And the school has also been approved interim accommodation of two by 100 square metre temporary accommodation to cater for their immediate needs. And this was approved to the school authorities in March 2022. There are some issues with regard to communications and I will bring your issues to the Minister and ask for the department and the Minister to, I suppose, work directly with the schools and indeed yourself. But again, thank you for raising this very important issue. Dr. President R suitable for the public