Dáil Éireann debate -
Thursday, 17 Oct 2024

I bring this to the attention of the House again. It has been brought to the attention of the House many times before. It is a simple issue that has simple remedies. We need to avail of those remedies as quickly as possible. Typical of the things that happen is that one child in the family goes to the local school and the other child or children go to a different school, in some cases 20 miles away, for what reason I cannot understand. In one case that came to my attention, the mother was traumatised in many ways and the family was traumatised. After a lot of effort, the child, who had a particular reason for being in a local school, was offered a place in Blanchardstown, at least 25 miles away. Why that should happen I cannot understand. In another case, a child was offered a place in County Laois. It was good to have the place but it is too far away. At a time when both parents, if there are two parents, have to work, the parent who is in situ has to travel at least twice a day, maybe 40 miles in a round trip. It is crazy.

I thank the Minister of State for coming in to answer the question but it is intolerable that they should have to be sent in that direction. I want to emphasise that children with extra or special needs are affected twice as badly as anybody else. They are vulnerable. Their parents are vulnerable and under stress. It is a quite a simple thing with modern methods of construction to provide a place that is sufficient to meet requirements and facilitate the children in all cases. We have all made representations over the past number of years to ensure that sufficient construction took place, and there was sufficient consultation with local management to ensure the forward planning and construction of the necessary space so that places could be readily available, as they should be, to meet demand. This has become more acute recently. It has become a really big issue for the parents involved. The degree to which it affects parents whose children do not have special needs is one thing. It is traumatic, time consuming and very difficult to accommodate. The cases where there are children with special needs are twice as bad and should not happen under any circumstances. I ask that whatever steps necessary are taken to ensure that families are accommodated regardless of their circumstances, so children can attend the same school as their siblings or a school nearby and the parents have as short as possible a round trip in dropping off and collecting the children. It should be possible to achieve that.

I am taking this matter on behalf of my colleague the Minister for Education, who is otherwise engaged. I thank the Deputy for raising this matter, which gives me the opportunity to set out the position with regard to school places, including for children and young people with special educational needs, in north Kildare for September 2025 and onwards.

The provision of school places to meet the needs of children and young people at primary and post-primary level, including children and young people with special educational needs, is an absolute priority for the Department of Education. In line with the Department’s demographic projections for post-primary school place requirements, there has been a continued growth in the number of enrolments in many school planning areas in north Kildare. In response, the Department has invested significantly in schools in County Kildare over recent years. Since 2020, more than €310 million has been invested in schools in the county. This investment has focused on the provision of additional capacity to cater for its increasing population and there are further significant projects in our pipeline, including for north Kildare.

At a national level, Ireland has been experiencing growth in the overall number of post-primary enrolments and this is projected to continue in many parts of the country for the coming years before beginning to taper off and decline. First-year enrolments nationally, however, are expected to have peaked in the 2023-24 school year and are beginning to decline. Throughout north Kildare, there are almost 250 more first-year places available for the 2025-26 school year than there are sixth-class children.

Nevertheless, the Department has been putting in place a number of measures to support parents and post-primary schools, including in north Kildare, with a view to helping the admissions process for the 2025-26 year to run as smoothly as possible. First, the Department has written to all parents and guardians of children in sixth class with advice and guidance regarding the admissions process for post-primary for the 2025-26 school year. This letter advised parents to apply to multiple schools in areas where there is high demand and requested parents to take steps to avoid holding multiple places. Second, the Department has improved the central post-primary online database IT system that schools use to register school enrolments. This is an important improvement and is available to assist schools to manage the enrolment process and provide real-time notification to schools to where a new student has accepted a school place in more than one school. This will help identify duplicate enrolments at an early stage.

Furthermore, the successful data-sharing arrangements that were implemented for the 2024-25 admissions process in areas of enrolment pressure will again be put in place again for the 2025-26 process, including for areas in north Kildare. It is expected that, as in previous years, the data sharing will provide confidence that there is sufficient school place availability in the majority of areas. If a shortfall of places is identified in an area, however, the Department will work with schools to put the necessary solutions in place.

I also acknowledge the invaluable work being done by school principals and the wider school authorities in expanding the educational provision for pupils with special educational needs. Over the past five years, almost 1,700 new special classes have been provided. There are now a total of 131 special classes in County Kildare. Eleven new special school places have been opened, including one new special school in Craddockstown, which serves the needs of children with autism and complex needs throughout County Kildare. The Department has also recently issued a circular to all schools, following intensive stakeholder engagement, setting out new measures to support the forward planning of special education provision. This circular highlights a focus on the establishment of additional special classes in all post-primary schools and at medium-to-large primary schools that do not yet have a special class. It also outlines new streamlined arrangements to support the repurposing of existing accommodation to facilitate opening new special classes.

The Department will continue to plan for future school place needs using the most up-to-date information, including on current and planned residential development activity. Additionally, it will continue to liaise with local authorities with a view to identifying any potential long-term school accommodation requirements in school planning areas.

I thank the Minister of State for the level of detail. I recognise and understand the degree of investment that has taken place, and I have spoken to the Minister about the issue many times. There is a burgeoning population in Kildare, which creates problems that are unique to the county and, in particular, to the north of the county, which is the constituency I represent. I realise it is difficult to cross every t, dot every i and so on in the nature of things, but I am sure I have not even dealt with all the cases. My colleagues, in both north and south Kildare, will have had the same experience.

I am worried about how it has come about that a child who, for instance, wanted to gain access to Naas Community College was offered a place in Blanchardstown. The person who offered the place was under the impression they were helping, but it was no of help to the unfortunate child or their family, not to mention the fact the mother was a lone parent and had been deeply traumatised by the process up to that point. That is not the only case. There are several others, and while I will not go into detail on all of them, I am trying to emphasise that the degree of need must be taken into account when identifying a place that might be suitable for a child. It should take into account the level of convenience for the parent where the child has special needs or where aspects of the parent’s daily chores make it difficult such that they have to divide themselves between the various demands of them.

I again thank the Minister of State for his response and for taking the Topical Issue. It would be a great help if it were possible to relay to the Department the possibility of attempting to identify the most sensitive areas with a view to meeting their requirements as soon as possible.

I assure the Deputy that the Department is at all times planning ahead. I mentioned earlier the additional classes and places that are there for children with additional needs. On top of that, there are additional special needs assistant, SNA, supports in schools in north Kildare and throughout the country. Where there is good availability of first-year school places in Kildare for the 2025-26 year, the Department will continue to work with the schools to ensure the admissions process will be transacted as smoothly as possible.

A strong pipeline of projects is being delivered in all the school areas and these, again, are adding to the capacity, notwithstanding, as the Deputy noted, the population increases that are taking place in this area, which we anticipate will taper off and start to decline in the coming years. Again, however, we have to plan for that, and the Department continues to proactively plan for those needs and will continue to actively work with the National Council for Special Education, NCSE, to plan for special education provision, which is very important, including requirements for additional special classes and special school places. The fact a new special school will be established in Kildare for the 2025-26 year is testament to the strong forward planning process in the Department and the work it does with schools, principals and school boards, and I agree wholeheartedly that we should commend the incredible work they do. I will convey directly to the Minister the points the Deputy raised.