I thank Deputy Ó Murchú for raising this question regarding County Louth. I will first give him an overview of where we are and then address the specifics, if that is okay. We are extremely committed to the provision of additional places for children with exceptional educational needs. The number of special classes provided across the country has doubled over the last few years. In addition, 16 new special schools have been established in recent years. School capacity has also been expanded across a number of schools nationwide. Four of these special schools are in County Louth, educating approximately 450 students with complex educational needs. These schools are supported by the Department of education and the National Council for Special Education, NCSE. As the Deputy will be aware, an earlier notification deadline was introduced last year to support forward planning. This also meant that the NCSE was equipped earlier with local information as to what students would be leaving school, transitioning to post-primary specialised places or seeking specialised places and entering the education system for the first time. This information is crucial when examining where places must be provided to meet demand. The National Council for Special Education started sanctioning special classes for the 2026-27 school year in January, several months earlier than the previous year. To date, 565 new special classes have been sanctioned by the NCSE for the 2026-27 school year. By way of information, between September 2025 and September 2026, close to 1,000 extra special classes will have been sanctioned and opened across the country. The vast majority of these new special classes are for children with autism. The new special class sanctions mean there will be over 4,300 special classes operating in mainstream schools across the country in the next school year, up from 1,836 in 2020. The earlier notification has given us insight into the need. The Department has worked extremely well with the NCSE and with school communities across the country to open extra classes at both primary and post-primary levels. On the issues the Deputy has raised regarding education, we have those who are entering primary school for the first time and those who are transitioning from primary to post-primary school. These are the pinch points or challenges we face. We are acutely aware of the breakdown of places. We are working extremely well with the new teams within the NCSE across all counties to make sure we are meeting the needs of children with additional educational requirements. The Deputy mentioned a number of children. While it would not be appropriate for me to discuss these cases on the floor of the Dáil, the Deputy shared the details with me yesterday evening and I will certainly take these matters up and respond to him offline. I fully understand. One of my motivations in my role is that, a few short years ago, I met a parent at a school gate whose child was finishing primary school in June of that particular school year. This parent did not know where that child would go to post-primary school that September. That has really guided me in making sure we have appropriate places. On being appointed, I looked at moving the date to earlier in the year so that we would have earlier sight of educational requirements. We are working to ensure that again next year. It is proper to engage in forward planning to make sure we have sight of the need.

Sentiment score: 0.28

There are a number of issues to discuss. The Deputy mentioned a case. I do not want to go into the specifics on the floor of the Dáil but that is one of the pieces we are concerned about. We are concerned about meeting profound levels of need within an appropriate school. We are doing a number of things. We have sight of the need earlier in the school year. We will continue with that programme over the next while. We are also gathering information from other Departments, including information from the access and inclusion model and the domiciliary care section, to make sure that we have full sight of this need, particularly at primary level. In addition, during the school year, school placements may not work out for a whole variety of reasons. We really need to work on that. While primary schools right across the country have done a huge amount of work with regard to additional special classes and working through the system, we have more work to do with regard to post-primary schools. Students will be going from primary school to post-primary school. We will be looking very carefully at that issue over the next while. We are also looking at where placements break down and the supports we can provide through the NCSE, the SENOs and team leaders right across the country. The Deputy asked about County Louth. We are investing in special schools and special classes right across County Louth. Of course, we are supporting students in mainstream education as well. I assure the Deputy of that. It is extremely important. I know and understand the pressures families are under, particularly as we are now galloping towards the end of the school year with a new one on the horizon. Families need certainty on that. I will follow up on the queries the Deputy has shared with me and report back to him.

Sentiment score: 0.19

I thank the Deputy for the question. Like the Deputy, we recognise the importance of the summer programme as a vital piece in the education system. It is vital for children at primary and post-primary school. It is specifically designed for children with complex educational needs or those at risk of educational disadvantage. While it is delivered during the summer months, it is an educational programme and it is important that it is viewed as educational rather than as recreation in summer camps. Since 2021, the Department of Education and Youth’s inspectorate has evaluated the programme annually. The findings consistently highlight the programme’s positive impact on the many children and young people who have taken part, with parents, staff and the children themselves reporting improvements in confidence, attitude and readiness to return to school in September. The original intention and continued emphasis of the summer programme is to mitigate the impact of learning loss on those children while schools are closed. An increase in special educational needs prevalence rates, particularly of autism, and the presentation of children with more complex needs, has meant that the summer programme is more important than ever. Details of the summer programme were communicated to schools and stakeholders in early May. While it is acknowledged that the details of the programme are typically announced earlier, the Department has continually kept in touch with stakeholders who are querying when the summer programme might be announced. This ensured that schools understood it would be forthcoming and that they should start their preparations. As a result, the online application portals for both the school-based and the home-based programmes were opened from 6 May to 15 May. Both the Minister, Deputy Naughton, and I were aware of the deadline, and the application portals were reopened again from 2 to 5 June. Details of this reopening were announced in May. The summer programme has been well established for several years, so even though there was a shorter window for applications, schools were prepared in advance. The Department subsequently received more applications for the school-based scheme this year than in 2025, with increases across primary, post-primary and special schools. In addition, the number of home-based applications has significantly increased on last year. The Department has been engaging with schools on an individual basis in relation to the running of their summer programme. Schools have now received their sanction letters with their staffing allocation. This allocation is based on the number of children who are taking part in accordance with the published terms and conditions of the programme. In instances where schools believe they require additional supports, they can engage, and many are engaging, with the Department to outline the unique circumstances that require additional resources. I know the Department has been working with schools on an individual basis to ensure they can meet the needs of all the children taking part. Equally, it is acknowledged that there are some children with complex special educational needs whose school is not running a school-based programme or that a place on the school-based programme is not available. In this instance, these children can avail of the home-based provision. The Department is working hard to ensure it is communicating with families as a matter of urgency. As the Deputy rightly pointed out, we are in the second half of June, and we need to get certainty to all communities. Many schools have been liaising with us in the past week or ten days in particular, and the Department has been engaging with them. Where a need is demonstrated, additional staffing is being made available. This will continue to work until the summer programme is up and running. We are very serious about making sure that the summer programme works this year and into the future.

Sentiment score: 0.22

There has been an increase in the number of schools. More applications were received for school-based programmes this year than in 2025, with an increase across the primary, post-primary and special schools. In addition, there has been an increase in home-based applications, which significantly increased last year. We are working across the system to ensure we are delivering decisions and appeals. Further information has been sent in by school authorities to the Department in recent days, and that is being worked on in a timely manner. Certainty is being issued to schools, and we understand the need for that. There has been an increase. This shows the value that the families and school communities put on the summer programme. I am pleased to see that more primary, post-primary and special schools are engaging in the programme. That is what we want. We want to make sure the programme is open to all. In the past few years, there has been an increase of 210% in child participation. That is welcome. It is what it is all about. It is to ensure that children who require further education, those with additional educational needs and children from disadvantaged backgrounds have the opportunity of the summer programme. This programme was devised many years ago and it has been successful and has been running across the schools. We understand the value of it. The engagement between the Department and the school authorities is ongoing. A lot of documentation was issued over the last day or so in terms of staffing and that will continue. On the home-based tuition, or the home-based programme, we are working to bring clarity to families because I know families need certainty at this point in the year.

Sentiment score: 0.36

I thank the Deputy. I appreciate the question and thank him for his ongoing engagement on matters of education, not just in the House but also his own engagement in it. It is important that we do so. I want to go to the school the Deputy raised. I assure the Deputy that the Government is fully committed to supporting students with special educational needs to fulfil their full potential. The programme for Government makes a number of commitments to deliver on this important objective. I can assure the Deputy that the Department has been working closely with the school authorities in relation to the school's accommodation requirement and will continue to do so. The Department of education appointed a project manager who visited the school to examine the feasibility of providing two special educational needs modular classrooms at the school's preferred location on the school site. The Department was advised that due to a site-specific technical constraint only one unit could be accommodated at the school's preferred location. However, I commend the school's strong preference for proceeding with two special educational needs classrooms, and the project manager is now undertaking a revised viability assessment report, including examining the possibility of relocating the modular accommodation to an alternative location on the school site. The Department of education will endeavour to assist in facilitating this option. Once the process has been completed, officials from the Department of education will be in contact with the school authorities. The Deputy will appreciate that the Department is required to utilise the funding available to it to ensure that every child has access to a school place, and indeed there is a large demand for school places and class provision in the Balbriggan school planning area. I assure the Deputy that the Department is fully committed to the optimum special education needs accommodation solution at the school and will continue to engage with the school in this regard. It is important to note the project manager has been appointed and has gone out there. I could not but strongly commend the school authorities for wanting to go ahead with the two special classes. That is not universal but perhaps the Deputy might convey to the school authorities that we do appreciate that they are looking to the future as well. One of the things we have to bear in mind as a Department and a Government is the large demand for special education class provision in the Balbriggan school planning area. That is one thing we have to be very cognisant of as we move forward. I will give a commitment that we will work very closely with the school authorities to ensure we find the best possible solution there and to ensure engagement with the school authorities on it. By way of information, the Deputy will be aware that the National Council for Special Education, NCSE, is the statutory body for the provision of special education and allocating supports for children with additional needs. The Department is guided by the NCSE in relation to requirements for special classes in the first instance. In order to respond to the urgent need for special educational needs class provision identified by the National Council for Special Education, my Department is progressing urgent building projects that involve providing modular accommodation for SEN class provision. This delivery method and modern methods of construction offer an extremely high-quality carbon-friendly building combined with fast delivery. In overall terms, it is important to have a range of delivery mechanisms for delivering school accommodation to support the very strong and ambitious roll-out of school building projects across the country. I assure the Deputy that the Department will be working very closely with the project manager and the school authorities in order to progress the delivery of special education class accommodation as quickly as possible. My officials will engage directly with the school again on the next steps for delivery of this accommodation.

Sentiment score: 0.44

In all school projects when the Department engages, the Department is one side of it, the planning and building unit is one side of it, and there is the National Council for Special Education, which has sight of the numbers that are notified on a yearly basis. The most important ingredient as well is the school authorities and we have to bring them with us. The school authorities have the best interests of their communities at heart and they want to see what is the best option for them. In this instance, they are very clear in demonstrating that a quick fix in relation to one classroom will not meet the needs into the future. Where population growth is anticipated right across the country, we have to be very mindful that we have to future proof, so that we are not trying to catch up year after year and make provision for specialised education. There must be reflection on the points that have been made and the really serious engagement the school authorities have had with the Department on pushing the two classes in the overall decision that we are making. I assure the Deputy that the Department will continue to work with the school authorities and bear in mind the challenges that will arise not just in 2026 but into the future in the greater Balbriggan area as well. We will work closely and we will report back the Deputy.

Sentiment score: 0.49