I had a wonderful visit to Scoil Mhuire Milford last week with Deputy Mac Lochlainn, Senator Manus Boyle and other Deputies. I want to commend the work of the school. You can see the fantastic ethos there, the learning and teaching and the warmth that is evident there. I always say it is very clear when you walk into a school the atmosphere that is there and that was very apparent in Scoil Mhuire Milford. My Department has received an application for large-scale capital funding from the school. The officials have corresponded extensively with the school following that application. They met the patron and other school representatives. Discussions have been ongoing between the Department and the school around providing more information around enrolment patterns. From our discussion that day with the school, it will submit that. As the Deputy will know, the Department provided additional capacity at the school through a significant modular accommodation project that was completed in November 2024. In terms of managing remaining capacity pressures at the school, the Department understands that around 20% of the school’s current enrolment consists of pupils for whom it is not their nearest school. The school wants to come back with figures and evidence around that. We would really welcome that information. My Department’s NDP rollout places a very strong emphasis on maximising existing capacity and the prioritisation of school building projects to meet the most urgent needs. All applications from schools for major capital works, including Scoil Mhuire, must be considered in that context. My Department will continue to liaise with the patron and school authority within this context but we are also awaiting that information around the enrolment figures.
Sentiment score: 0.21
As the Deputy knows, the school operates on a tight urban site which adjoins a relatively busy road than most rural schools. The school has identified various issues with accommodation, including traffic management, uneven and small internal floor areas and, as I could see for myself, a sloping site topography and a limited play space. The school also referenced expected future housing growth and the urgency of acting on the offer of a local landowner to swap a greenfield site for a new school in exchange for the current site. The Department will continue to liaise with the school. Since 2020 we have invested €228.24 million in capital funding for schools in Donegal. Seventy-three schools have been upgraded either through a new building, a large-scale extension or modular accommodation and there are eight school projects under construction. I know the Deputy’s question related to this school - I will continue to work with it in order to try to progress this.
Sentiment score: 0.13
I thank the Deputy. He will appreciate I cannot confirm anything there in the Dáil Chamber. All I can say is it was great to see the school for myself. I know the great work happening there, the constraints the school is working within and the fantastic job it is doing in relation to teaching and learning. The enrolment figures are important. I understand the school says it has that work completed and will send it into the Department in relation to the review of enrolment patterns in the area and looking at the current enrolment coming from areas served by other schools. That is important in terms of trying to progress this. I thank the Deputy for his time.
Sentiment score: 0.42
My Department is in the final stages of work on the first special needs assistant workforce development plan and associated documents. The plan provides a comprehensive framework for understanding and supporting SNAs, children with special educational needs and school communities. It will, through a co-created series of policy developments strengthen, clarify and offer clear direction and consistency to the SNA workforce. Significant research and collaboration have been undertaken in preparation of the plan. This includes significant engagement with focus groups of SNAs, students, school leaders and teachers as well as a national survey of SNAs. Published reports on each are available on the government website. The plan is also supported by collaborative working groups established for each of the five pillars of the work. Membership of these working groups include school management bodies, Fórsa, the trade union representing SNAs, school staff, the National Parents Council and the Children’s Rights Alliance. The working groups examined every facet of the SNA role in 55 meetings with a view to enhancing support to children and young people with special educational needs. Recently, the Minister of State, Deputy Moynihan, and I held a full day-long engagement with SNAs and other education stakeholders on those documents, making sure there are no gaps and that we get this right. It was a very productive, positive meeting. The key outputs from the plan include a new circular on the role of the SNA, a SNA redeployment scheme which is long sought after by SNAs and a review of the SNA employment contract. I very much value the key contribution that SNAs. This was co-designed by them and by education stakeholders to make sure the educational experience and overall well-being of our students, which is what we are all here for, in our schools and to make sure our pupils are getting the resources they need. It will be published in the next couple of weeks.
Sentiment score: 0.38
"Yes" is the short answer. This has been the result of a huge amount of collaboration and engagement and has been co-designed by SNAs and education stakeholders. The Deputy is right about the evolved role of the SNA. It goes beyond the primary care needs. There are the social, emotional and behavioural supports that young people and students require. We also want to make sure SNAs are getting adequate training. These are things they have looked for. SNAs come from a wide variety of life experiences. There are varying qualifications out there and they bring so much as things stand. It is to elevate their position and make sure we are getting this right. There has been a huge amount of co-design with them and with educators. We have also listened to the voices of students and young people. There has been huge collaboration with them as well. For example, almost 7,500 SNAs responded to the national survey. There are focus groups with more than 310 SNAs, over 200 teachers and 250 school leaders. We consulted with almost 150 children and young people about the role of the SNA and what they want to see to support them as well.
Sentiment score: 0.25
I am glad the Deputy raised this issue because we are increasing the number of SNAs. There are 24,896 SNAs in our schools. By next September we will have over 26,000 SNAs. Between this year and next year, we have funding for 3,000 SNAs. We will be continuing to invest in our special needs assistants. They value and provide support for our children and students, particularly children coming into primary school and those transitioning from primary to post-primary level. Making sure the resource, which is the SNA, is moving with the young person is absolutely key. The Deputy is correct that the class teacher and special education teacher are key here as well but the SNA plays a key role. When teachers do student support plans the SNA will feed into that. That is the important role they play in the social, emotional and behavioural, as well as the primary care needs of our young people. We want to make sure we are not only validating them but recognising the important role they play. That is why the new workforce development plan, and the circular will reflect that through co-design and engagement with the sector.
Sentiment score: 0.40
As the Deputy will be aware, I have recently published the €7.55 billion NDP sectoral investment plan for the education and youth sectors for the period 2026 to 2030. Of that €7.55 billion investment, €5 billion will be used for project rollout to support the delivery and modernisation of school buildings. In this regard, I published a list of the 105 school building projects in the first tranche to proceed to construction or tender over this year and next year, of which four are in Carlow and two are in Kilkenny. These projects were prioritised with a strong focus on maximising existing capacity and prioritising project rollout to meet the most urgent needs. These projects are in addition to the €253 million in capital funding for Carlow-Kilkenny schools between 2020 and 2025. Over that period, a total of 70 schools has been upgraded either through provision of a new school building, a large-scale extension or provision of modular accommodation. There are currently seven school projects in Carlow-Kilkenny under construction. My Department will continue to engage with patrons and schools in Carlow-Kilkenny and across the country to inform targeted and prioritised capital investment. That will include the identification of any urgently required works or capacity needs with stakeholders, and that consultation will commence in June. With regard to Kilkenny City Vocational School and Coláiste Pobal Osraí, they form part of a single campus development. I had the pleasure of visiting them with Deputies McGuinness and Callaghan, and local representatives. I know there is a devolved delivery to the Kilkenny and Carlow Education and Training Board. The brief for Kilkenny City Vocational School provides for a new post-primary school building with a long-term projected enrolment of 550 pupils, including a two-room special education provision. The brief for Coláiste Pobal Osraí provides for a new post-primary school building with a long-term projected enrolment for 400 pupils. The project is at stage 2B. I will come back in and say more.
Sentiment score: 0.15
There has been significant investment in Carlow and Kilkenny due to the demographic changes there. I am aware that across the country there are many schools. Some of them were happy they were on that list, and others were disappointed that there were not. There is work under way in my Department on a new prioritisation list of schools. There was a conditional energy survey carried out across all schools in the country. That will be completed this year and feed into our new prioritisation list. The Department of education will be contacting patrons shortly for their views on the new prioritisation list and that work will be ongoing. Obviously, we have an NDP right out to 2030. I could not announce all the projects in one go. In an ideal world, we would have loved to do that. This has to be done on a phased basis. The first tranche was announced and the Department will be working with patrons and schools on the next prioritisation list.
Sentiment score: 0.12
I thank the Deputy. In general, the Department works with schools on planning permissions that may be due to expire. That work happens all the time. With the priority list, we look at a number of issues, including: demographic pressures; schools that may not have their own home, in that they may be working out of a sports facility; whether they are ready to proceed to stage 3; whether they are maximising the capacity within their existing school footprint; and, importantly, where there is a focus on special educational needs, SEN, classes. This is a top priority for the Minister of State and me and it feeds into our building projects as well. We want to ensure our children and students can attend their local school. That will require special education classes to be prioritised as part of our building projects.
Sentiment score: 0.33
The new build for Gaelscoil Choláiste Mhuire is a large-scale capital project for the construction of a 16-classroom primary school in Dublin 1. The building project to complete the new build for Gaelscoil Choláiste Mhuire, Dominick Street, is at stage 3 of the architectural planning process - tender action and award. The Department can confirm that following a confidential conciliation process concerning all matters in dispute between the Department and the original contractor, the conciliator has now issued a formal recommendation for the resolution of those disputes, and that recommendation has now been accepted by both parties. Following the conclusion of the conciliation process, my Department has instructed the design team to ready a tender for the completion contract for the school in Dominick Street. This process is expected to take four to six weeks to publish the tender, with a view to having a contractor on-site in early quarter 4 of 2026. It remains the Department’s priority to deliver a new school building for Gaelscoil Choláiste Mhuire as quickly as possible. Departmental officials will continue to work closely with the school authority.
Sentiment score: 0.19
As the Deputy said, the design team has been instructed by the Department to ready the tender for the completed contract. It will take four to six weeks to publish the tender, with a view to having the contractor on-site in quarter 4 of this year. Each stage of the process is subject to due diligence by the Department within the context of the overall programme and budgetary parameters. However, it remains the Department's priority to deliver a new school building for Gaelscoil Choláiste Mhuire as quickly as possible. Departmental officials will continue to work closely with the school authorities and will meet with them on a regular basis. As the Deputy said, a number of issues arose on site and the Department actively engaged with the design team and the contractor to discuss matters. Those unforeseen matters led to a delay in the project and, as a result, the Department entered into a conciliation hearing to try to reach agreement on a solution to ensure the earliest possible delivery of the school, while respecting its statutory obligations.
Sentiment score: 0.27
We can contact the school in relation to this but it is important to say that, in accordance with standard practice and contractual requirements, the conciliation process is of a confidential nature and, therefore, it was not appropriate to comment on the process. The conciliator has issued a formal recommendation for the resolution of the disputes and that recommendation has now been accepted by both parties. The Department is providing accommodation more suitable to the current needs of the school on Cathal Brugha Street. Some small-scale refurbishment works at the building were carried out to provide a good interim accommodation solution for the school. These include teaching and learning spaces for the classes, education supports and sensory spaces, adequate meeting and office spaces, a staff room, a communal area and access to a safe outdoor space for the students. The school moved into those premises in December of 2025. I will ask departmental officials to engage directly with the Deputy on his last question.
Sentiment score: 0.35
I thank the Deputy for her question. Ensuring that every child and young person can reach their full potential is a key priority for me as Minister and for my Department. The DEIS programme and the new DEIS plus scheme, which will begin this year as part of the DEIS strategy to 2035, are key initiatives in my Department’s approach to addressing educational disadvantage. Schools were identified for inclusion in the DEIS and DEIS plus programmes using refined, rules-based approaches built on nationally available pupil-level administrative data that was applied consistently across all schools in the country. The DEIS identification process is based on the principle of concentrated disadvantage and the proportion of students from disadvantaged backgrounds within a school. The DEIS identification process is based on the HP deprivation index assigned to the area where individual students reside, and on Traveller and Roma ethnicity. It is important to stress that although a school is not included in DEIS or DEIS plus, this does not in any way imply that my Department is saying that disadvantage does not exist within that school community. I absolutely recognise the important role that schools like Roxboro National School in Ballinrobe, and the staff therein, play in supporting children who reside in international protection accommodation, for example. That is why, under the DEIS strategy to 2035, which is my Department’s long-term vision to address educational disadvantage in all schools, I announced a pilot scheme to extend home school community liaison, HSCL, provision to schools outside of the DEIS programme that have significant cohorts of children that are at risk of educational disadvantage or who are from new communities. Roxboro National School in Ballinrobe is one of 130 schools that will be supported under this scheme. Any future allocation of resources to address educational disadvantage in schools will be considered over the lifetime of the DEIS strategy out to 2035 and in the context of available resources.
Sentiment score: -0.11
The DEIS plus strategy was a commitment in the programme for Government, the aim of which is to target areas across the country where there are really high risks of educational disadvantage. The evidence from international assessments on literacy and numeracy finds that Ireland performs very highly compared to other OECD countries or EU averages. However, the assessments also find that there are gaps remaining in relation to outcomes for children from areas of high deprivation. That was reinforced by the 2024 review of resourcing schools to address educational disadvantage in Ireland, which recommended higher levels of support for a small cohort of schools supporting the highest concentrations of children and young people at risk of educational disadvantage. That was the purpose of the DEIS plus strategy, but I hear what the Deputy is saying about Roxboro and other schools across the country that are not DEIS schools but have children and young people who are at risk of educational disadvantage within them. That is why I set up that pilot scheme specifically for schools like Roxboro National School in Ballinrobe, to give them access to a home school liaison position. We will be looking at the DEIS plus strategy and how it is being rolled out. I would like to make it more flexible.
Sentiment score: -0.09
The commitment in the programme for Government was for the DEIS plus strategy aimed at those areas of most severe educational disadvantage. That is why I set up a pilot specifically for schools that are not in DEIS, understanding the needs that are out there. I will be looking at that into the future to see what more we can do and what more supports we can provide for schools across the country. With regard to the data, this is nationally available data that is applied right across the country, and also the enrolment data coming from our schools from the primary online database, POD and the post-primary online database system, P-POD, from our post-primary schools. Priority and weighting was given to schools in areas where there was a high level of unemployment, a high level of Roma or Traveller children within those schools, and students with lone parents were part of that as well. We have to make sure that we are looking at nationally available data and at the HP deprivation index. We also work with the Central Statistics Office, CSO, in making sure that we are refining the data that is coming to us, specifically in relation to schools across the country, and the enrolment data that schools are providing.
Sentiment score: -0.05
Okay. I can come back to the Deputy with further information. I can confirm that my Department is in receipt of an application for accommodation under the additional school accommodation scheme for the school referred to by the Deputy. The application relates to the replacement of a prefab which is used as a special education tuition room and ancillary accommodation. The Department's assessment of this application needs to reflect the fact this is a two-teacher school, with a current enrolment of 20 pupils. While the school has two classrooms, it has very limited ancillary accommodation and my Department previously indicated to the school authority that it is prepared to approve a small special education tuition room for the school. While a special education tuition room does not reflect the full scale of additional and ancillary accommodation sought by the school authority, my Department considers this is the most important aspect to be prioritised at this time. However, my Department will continue to engage with the school authority on the matter, and I can come back to the Deputy on that.
Sentiment score: 0.26