I thank the Deputy for the question. The Department of education and the National Council for Special Education, NCSE, are aware of the recent issues raised by the school to which Deputy O’Sullivan referred. I can confirm that the Department and the NCSE have met and are in ongoing contact with the management of the school to ensure the needs of all students continue to be met. As Deputy O’Sullivan knows, when a special class in a special school is established, there is an automatic allocation of one teacher and two special needs assistants per class of six students. However, the standard allocation can be increased on the basis of the profile and needs of the students enrolled. St. Gabriel’s Special School currently has an enrolment of 54 students and a standard allocation of nine teachers and 18 SNAs. Additional resources, namely one teacher and 17 SNAs, supplementing the standard allocation, have been provided to the school. This is a significant increase in additional resources. The NCSE is providing advice and guidance to the school on how best to deploy staff to support the needs of the children. The Department and the NCSE also provide ongoing training opportunities to schools, particularly special schools, in order that their staff have the skills and competencies required for the level of complexity in the school environment. I am pleased to say that in the recent budget over 860 additional special education teacher posts have been secured and over 1,700 special needs assistants, SNAs, have been provided. This will mean we will have over 46,500 teachers and SNAs working in our education system. Any school, special or mainstream, with concerns regarding the level of resources to meet the care needs of its students can contact the NCSE at any stage to seek a review of its allocation. I am aware of the issues raised earlier in the year, and we are in constant contact with the school authorities in relation to them.

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Seventeen.

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Right now, that is the number.

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Officials from the NCSE and the Department met the school board of management, including the chair, and the principal on 10 October. There is ongoing engagement with the NCSE and the Department. The NCSE is arranging a follow-up meeting with the school this week to discuss the findings of the SNA review, the recommendations to support SNA resources and other related issues. I guarantee that we are working very closely. When the issues arose in early October, the Department worked very closely with the NCSE and the school authorities to ensure concerns were being adequately addressed. I very much take the Deputy’s point regarding the complexity of needs within St. Gabriel’s and the huge amount of work being done there to provide care and education to students. We are continuously engaging with the school. With regard to additional resources, there are the additional teacher and 17 SNAs, along with the nine teachers and the 18 SNAs, but following the review, we are continuing to ensure any further resourcing requirements of St. Gabriel’s will be met.

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Deputy O’Sullivan raised various issues. The details of the review are between the board, the NCSE and the Department. Much work has been done by these three over the past month or six weeks. I pay tribute to everybody concerned, including in St. Gabriel’s. They met immediately on the Friday after the Thursday night on which the issue was raised with me, and they have continued to engage. A reduction in hours is not on the cards. We want to ensure that proper resources are allocated to St. Gabriel’s to ensure it can provide care to and meet the education needs of all its 54 students. It is a matter of supporting the school with SNA resources. If there are related training or support needs, we are available to meet them. We are engaging in a very coherent way with St. Gabriel’s and we will continue to meet the needs of the school authorities and, more importantly, the education and care needs of the students within the school.

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The Minister and I have set a vision to deliver a world-class education service which breaks down barriers and ensures that every child can achieve their full potential. The investment of €7.55 billion in capital funding through the national development plan in the coming years will ensure that we can deliver new school places and upgrade existing schools. It will provide a record 14,000 school places in special classes and special schools. We will continue to prioritise and deliver extra spaces in our mainstream schools through the construction of new schools and extensions. I can confirm to the Deputy that the school in question initially submitted an application under the Department's additional school accommodation, ASA, scheme in 2018. An assessment deemed that the site was restricted and that additional lands were required to deliver this accommodation. This application was withdrawn by the school authority. A request to purchase additional lands was submitted by the school in 2021 and the acquisition of a 2.765-acre site adjacent to the school was completed at the end of May 2025. In late 2024, the school in question submitted a revised ASA application for additional accommodation to meet its future needs. The Department's approach will be to continue to maximise the capacity of the existing school estate as much as possible in the first instance and provide necessary additional capacity through targeted and prioritised project roll-out over the course of 2026 to 2030 period to meet the most urgent and prioritised needs. A strong focus will be on maximising existing school capacity, progressing priority projects where local capacity across schools in the area is insufficient, and ensuring delivery that is affordable, offers value for money and meets functional needs. The provision of required school places, including for children with additional educational needs, is a priority for all of us in the Department. A decision will be made in relation to the school's application for additional accommodation shortly in the context of overall programme management. This decision will take account of overall school place needs, including for children with special education needs, and in cognisance of demographic projections, capacity across schools in the area and the extent to which schools are prioritising local school place needs.

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The completion of the sale of the additional lands was completed at the end of May 2025. As I understand it, there was a huge amount of work to be done. The actual acquisition of that land, the 2.765 acres adjacent to the school, was completed at the end of May 2025. That is the clear understanding of the Department. The Department is working through the projects at the moment. I take the point that it is the coeducational primary school in Dungarvan which has the medium of Irish. Some 320 pupils were enrolled last year. The Department will be working through all the applications in the next while. This project has been ongoing for some time, going back to an initial application in 2018. However, the additional land has been bought. We will work with the Deputy. When decisions are being made, they will be communicated to the school authority as soon as possible.

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There might be some confusion here-----

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-----as to the letters that may have been issued in January. I presume those letters that were issued by the Department referenced moving to the next stage. Not until tender documentation is assessed and everything else is done is final approval given. I have not seen the letter of February to which the Deputy referred. A lot of work needs to be done. The site has been acquired. I assure the Deputy that we will work with him. A whole raft of decisions require to be made. When those decisions are made, they will be communicated to the school authority.

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