Dáil Éireann díospóireacht -
Tuesday, 28 May 2024

The school under reference in Fermoy was established in 2018 under the patronage divestment process. Fermoy was one of a number of areas surveyed in 2012-13 under the patronage divesting process, where there was sufficient parental demand supporting changes in school patronage. The areas surveyed were areas where demographics were not growing and therefore it was unlikely that a new multidenominational school would be established for demographic reasons alone.

The clear policy on patronage divestment was to use existing educational infrastructure to facilitate provision of diversity in areas where there was no demographic imperative to establish new schools. The reason for this approach was the imperative - equally valid now as it was then - to focus the schools capital programme on the provision of additional mainstream and special education school places at both primary and post-primary levels to ensure that every pupil can access a school place. As part of the process of identifying a suitable accommodation solution which would facilitate the establishment of the school, the Department liaised with Cork Education and Training Board. In order to facilitate the establishment of the new school, the ETB agreed to the co-location of the Educate Together school at the former technical school in Fermoy, together with some of the ETB’s further education and training services.

Prior to the establishment of the new school in 2018 under the patronage divestment process, the Department and Educate Together, as school patron, agreed that given the accommodation available at the property and the need for the ETB to accommodate some further education and training services from the property, the school would be established as a four-classroom school and that the school would maintain this configuration in the accommodation in the former technical school unless an existing school building was freed up for use in the area. As part of this engagement, the Department outlined to the school patron the importance of enrolments being managed within the available accommodation in a sustainable way and of this being communicated by the school board of management so that parents could be fully informed and in order to manage expectations.

That response is almost verbatim the response that was given to my colleague Deputy Pat Buckley last week when he raised this under Topical Issues. It is verbatim the response from the Minister’s private secretary to the school, but here is the thing - the school is not asking to go above its 104 cap. It is not asking for a greenfield site or a new school. It is simply asking for the correct space for the children who are in the school at the moment.

I understand that enrolment is due to rise to 96 this year which is still well below the 104 that the Minister referred to in her reply. I suggest looking at the photographs that were posted not only in the local media but in the national media too of the conditions in which these children are learning and the conditions in which staff are trying to provide appropriate education. It is simply not good enough. It is actually intolerable what this school is going through every day.

The principal has put forward three suggestions. They want to find a solution to this because they recognise the needs of the students cannot be met in the current environment.

As part of the engagement with the school patron, the Department did outline what was available at that time and that it would be a shared process between the ETB and the school. That was agreed at the time. However, the school has taken the decision to accept a significant increase in enrolments from 52 in the 2022-23 school year to 85 in the 2023-24 school year.

Individual school authorities are responsible, in the first instance, for ensuring the safety and welfare of children and others in their care. The configuration of classes and the deployment of classroom teachers are done at local school level. The Department's guidance to schools is that the number of pupils in any class is kept as low as possible taking all relevant contextual factors into account, for example, classroom accommodation and fluctuating enrolments.

The role of the Department is to ensure that all schools in an area can, between them, cater to school place requirements in that area. The broader position in the Fermoy school planning area is that demographics at primary level are declining and will steadily decrease for the foreseeable future.

Officials in the Department of Education have been engaging with the school patron, Educate Together, in respect of the current and future needs of the school. A technical visit by the Department is scheduled to take place shortly.

There is clearly demand for the school and there is clearly an unmet demand if the school is not able to continue to grow or even to meet the basic needs of the children who are there.

I understand that Fermoy Educate Together National School has been given the go-ahead to open an autism class and that it has four children in the school at the moment who need access to that class but are simply not going to get it because of the lack of space that is there. This is not an isolated incident. The Minister’s office got an email this morning, which I know because I received it too, from a primary school in Lanesborough, County Longford. The email says that the school has been in contact with the Minister’s Department since last year about the need to adequately support its growing number of students. It mentions a lack of correspondence and that there has been no progress to date. It says that a year has passed without any advancement towards providing suitable accommodation and that the situation is simply unacceptable. Moreover, the demand for this school’s autism classes continue to rise. We are a State with €8.6 billion of a surplus. How is this being allowed to happen in 2024?

In the lifetime of this Government, over €4.8 billion has been expended on school buildings and extended accommodation. That includes 800 projects that have been completed by the Department and 300 projects at various stages of development that are currently on site. The Deputy will be aware that earlier this year, I made an announcement of €800 million in additional funding that would provide for 90 or more projects to move to construction stage so there has been no shortage.

The Deputy specifically referred to special education. Some 3,000 special classes are now in place for special education, two thirds of which have been delivered under this Government. Equally, 11 new special schools have been delivered under this Government. There has been no shortage of money, funding or resources being made available for capital builds, irrespective of what the Deputy says.

On Fermoy, I want to be very clear that there was an arrangement with the patron that an agreed level of numbers would be kept in place by Educate Together until alternative sites were made available.

A technical assessment will now take place by the Department. However, an agreement was made in the first instance between the patron body, Educate Together, and the Department regarding the availability of accommodation at any given time. That agreement was made by both parties on behalf of the school. The patron made that agreement.

I ask the Minister for an update on what is happening with Clarin College, Athenry, and the proposed additional accommodation that will be required to meet the demand of first-year students coming this September. I understand that Presentation College, Athenry, is also under severe pressure and that more than 60 students have been left on a waiting list to get into first year. It is urgent. What progress has been made in delivering that accommodation?

I assure the Deputy that the provision of school places to meet the needs of children and young people at primary and post-primary levels, including children and young people with special educational needs, is a priority for the Department. Since 2020, as I have previously outlined to the Deputy opposite, my Department has invested approximately €4.8 billion in our schools throughout the country, involving the completion of more than 800 school building projects. Construction is currently under way on approximately 300 other projects, which include 30 new school buildings. These 300 projects currently under construction involve a total State investment of more than €1.2 billion.

More than €150 million has been invested in school infrastructure in County Galway in since this Government came into being, reflecting a strong focus on the alignment of school place availability with the significant residential development which has taken place across the area. As the Deputy has referenced, two new 1,000 pupil post-primary school buildings have been recently provided in Athenry, namely, Presentation College and Clarin College. These have provided significant additional capacity in the town. The Department’s ongoing demographic analysis has identified a requirement for further additional post-primary capacity in Athenry.

In that context, the Department has been engaging with the patron of Clarin College, to which the Deputy referred, regarding the proposed expansion of the school to cater for 1,500 students and six classes for children with special educational needs. This close engagement is considering the overall medium-term accommodation requirements at the school and the school’s more immediate accommodation needs to facilitate the required growth in enrolments over the coming school years. My officials met last week with the school principal and patron and had a very productive discussion on the phased delivery of additional accommodation for the school, taking account of school place needs over the coming years.

With respect to September 2024, the Athenry school planning area is one of a number of areas of enrolment pressure at post-primary level for which the Department has received data on applications for admissions. Updated data on offers and acceptances continue to be received as admissions processes transact. I want to acknowledge that the sharing of this data by the relevant schools has been very effective in the identification of school place requirements across the area.

At the outset, I must acknowledge that huge investment has gone into education facilities right across the county. The Minister was down there for the opening of the school we are discussing, as well as for that of Presentation College, Athenry. The problem is that there seems to be very short-sighted planning. I am not saying this about the Minister but am making a general comment. I say this because that was only officially opened last year, but this year we are down 60 places. The problem stems from the fact that people came in from outside areas to fill places. The problem I have now is that approximately 25 parents from the town have gotten in touch with me as their student is not guaranteed a place in first year in September. It is causing a huge amount of stress for families. There are ongoing discussions, which I acknowledge, in which the Galway and Roscommon Education and Training Board and the school principal are involved, but it is incumbent on us all to make sure that an announcement is made about what will be done to accommodate these children in Athenry in September.

Since that time, we have seen an incredible influx of additional students coming from other places around the world, but also coming specifically into the area. I know these schools. I have visited and seen them. They are excellent schools that are doing great work and they deliver excellence in education every day. Some €150 million has been invested in Galway. There will be further investment as well. The Deputy has referenced the two schools.

I also want to make a point about the sharing of data. I want to acknowledge the co-operation we have received from the school on this, which has been quite phenomenal. That has indicated where there will be a shortfall going forward. As I said, we have already entered into discussions with Clarin College about raising its profile to 1,500. That will be done through staged development.

Specifically in relation to September 2024, we are engaging with the schools on the ground. Those places will be put in place to ensure that an appropriate number of places is available in the area. I again acknowledge the co-operation of everybody involved.

I take it from the Minister’s last remarks that these children will be accommodated next September in Athenry and that this will happen in Clarin College. That is most welcome. The parents need to know that is going to happen. The Minister mentioned the school principals, who work together in co-operation. They are there to produce the finest education they can. In fairness, the schools in Athenry are a credit to the Department and the school building unit, SBU. I have to acknowledge what we have achieved after a campaign.

As well as that, there is ongoing work on the new Gaelscoil campus in Athenry. However, we have to think ahead, because Dexcom is now building its 1,200-employee facility in Athenry. It is being built at the moment. We do not want to wait until it comes, because it will add more demand. This is important.

I thank the Deputy. I will conclude by saying that the sharing of data has been really helpful. It has indicated that there has been a cross-duplication of applications which have been submitted to a number of schools. The Deputy has already referenced those that are coming into the area from outside.

As regards the specific Athenry-Oranmore local electoral area, between 2017 and 2022 the completion of the building of houses was 2.5 times greater than what had been achieved in the previous five-year period. The spurt in growth that has happened there is quite phenomenal. We are engaging and thanks to the co-operation of the principals the specific number that will be required going forward will become more apparent. We are committed to ensuring we will have those places for September 2024.

I thank the Deputy for raising this important issue. I understand that it is an anxious time for parents who are seeking a school place for their children. I reassure the Deputy that this Government is determined to do all it can to help families that are seeking a special educational placement for their child. My Department is working closely with the National Council for Special Education, NCSE, on the forward planning of new special classes and additional special school places.

In the budget last year, funding was secured for up to 400 new special classes in mainstream schools and an additional 300 special school places for the 2024-25 school year. This will deliver 2,700 places for children. The NCSE has advised my Department that more than 320 new special classes have already been sanctioned nationwide for the coming 2024-25 school year, providing more than 1,900 special education places in mainstream schools. There are now more than 3,000 special classes in our education system providing places for more than 20,000 students. We have also opened four new special schools for September 2024 and increased capacity in a number of existing special schools to ensure that more children than ever can access an education that is appropriate to their needs.

My Department and the NCSE are actively engaging with school patrons and management bodies to ensure additional special classes for the coming school year are provided in areas where they are needed. I expect these remaining new special classes will be finalised in the coming weeks and that this additional provision, coupled with vacancies in existing special classes, will provide the additional capacity needed. It is also important to note that there are vacancies in existing special classes as children move from primary to post-primary or leave our school system. These places are filled on an ongoing basis.

The NCSE is working with schools that may be available to open classes for September 2024 but whose capacity may not be required at this time. They will remain options for additional provision if required throughout the 2024-25 school year.

I thank the Minister of State. I note that she did not answer the question on the number of children with special educational needs are without a school place. At the moment, we are seeing people such as Sarah Dooley, a lady about whom I have spoken before in this House. She applied to 20 schools before her twins were offered places. These are twins with very high needs. They now face an hour-and-a-half round trip to the school at which they have managed to secure a place. She is glad they have a place, but she is certainly not grateful for the distance her children have to be travelled. It is pulling them out of their community and away from their peers.

The children who do not have an adequate school place either now or for September are the ones we see being put on reduced timetables, excluded from schools and at the highest level of potential educational disadvantage. I spoke to one mother last week who told me she has a path worn to the SENO and the NCSE and there is still no offer beyond home tuition. This woman is a professional who holds down a full-time job.

I hear exactly what the Deputy is saying and I hear from across the country that parents feel anxious and frustrated. What we are doing, and what I am doing in my role as Minister of State with responsibility for special education, is increasing the number of SENOs on the ground, whose role it will be to be visible and active, and engaging and working with parents and schools to help them to find places for these children. I do not want us to be in the situation in September 2025 that we are in now, where parents are unnecessarily anxious and frustrated about finding places for their children for the upcoming September. We had 73 SENOs and they were spread very thinly across the country and each covered a very large geographical area. They will now have just one county that they work from and there will be 120 of them. They are being upskilled and trained and much of the administrative burden, such as filling out forms and applications, will be taken from them. This means they can be on the ground, helping parents and helping schools in forward planning for places.

The parents I speak to are well used to having to battle the State and having to fight for every service their child has ever received. By the time they get to a SENO, they have already tried everything that is going to be recommended by that SENO. I agree with the Minister of State about regionalisation. My constituency in the midlands was in the same area as Donegal, and Lord help the SENO who was trying to cover that area of ground. It is not just us, the parents or the schools saying this. The Ombudsman for Children has raised concerns about the unacceptable level of stress caused to families when children with additional needs are denied the right to education, which is what this is. All children with SEN should enjoy the right to education without discrimination and on an equal basis with the rest of their peers. I understand what the Minister of State is saying about forward planning. However, the Department recently released figures around the future ability of schools to meet additional SEN requirements. The figures suggest there is going to be an increase of over 11,000 children with additional needs in education by 2030. If the Government cannot get to grips with the demand that is there today, what hope is there of dealing with the needs of an additional 11,000 children by 2030?

It is for that reason we are investing €2.7 billion in special education, a third of the overall Department of Education funding. A lot of very good work is happening across the country. We want to improve and increase the resources of the NCSE, which is happening on a weekly basis. It will have those 120 SENOs on the ground and visible from this September. They are already on the ground but I want to see them in a position where they can actively engage with parents, guardians and schools to ensure children have access to the places they need.

With regard to additional capacity, the NCSE is working very closely and hard with schools and boards of management to identify those places for children for this upcoming September. I am confident about the additional capacity required to meet the needs of children known to the NCSE for September 2024. The Deputy can be assured I will be in regular contact with the NCSE to make sure this work continues.

Under the Teaching Council Acts 2001 to 2015, the Teaching Council is the body with the statutory authority and responsibility for the regulation of the teaching profession in Ireland, including the registration of teachers in the State. The Teaching Council is the professional standards body for the teaching profession and it promotes and regulates professional standards in teaching. The council registers teachers under the Teaching Council Act and there are five routes of registration.

The Covid-19 amendment regulation was introduced as a short-term temporary measure to ease teacher supply issues. It enabled teachers who had not completed induction in the country in which they qualified, but who met particular criteria, to obtain registration in Ireland. This, in turn, gave them an opportunity to complete induction here. This is not the usual practice as a fully registered, overseas-qualified teacher covered under EU mutual recognition of professional qualifications legislation will, in most jurisdictions, have to complete induction in the country in which they obtained their qualification in order to be fully registered.

The amendment regulation closed for applications on 1 February 2024. The amendment which was in place has now expired and a further statutory instrument would be required to establish this regulation for a longer period which, under the Teaching Council Act, is a matter for the council. Through engagement with the council on this matter, I can advise that the council is considering any further amendment to provide for the completion of induction in Ireland for overseas qualified teachers in the context of its legislative framework, including relevant EU legislation. Any updates, changes or amendments in this regard will be published on the Teaching Council website, www.teachingcouncil.ie.

I hear what the Minister is saying but that is going to ring hollow with many people who want to come and work as teachers here and who have qualified in England. My understanding is that some of the work currently ongoing is actually in regard to teachers who may go to the Middle East for a number of years before coming back, although that too is a welcome step. At the moment, we have an unparalleled recruitment and retention crisis in the education system that we need to get to grips with. There are 2,000 long-term vacancies in schools, as well as multiple short-term vacancies, and those are not my words but the words of the INTO general secretary, John Boyle. In 2023, a survey found that almost 80% of advertised teaching positions had no applications while 64% of schools still had unfilled vacancies. There is a solution to be found but we need to knuckle down, put a timeline on this and give those who want to come and work in Ireland as teachers a pathway to do so.

For the record, we have 1 million students, 4,000 schools and more than 100,000 staff in place, the highest number of staff ever in place. We have the lowest pupil-teacher ratio that we have ever had at a ratio of 23:1. In each of the 3,000 special classes, there are six pupils, one teacher and two SNAs, which is a very low ratio, as is right and correct. We have never had as many staff in the system as we have currently.

With specific regard to this application for teachers who do their training abroad, I must be clear that for them to be fully qualified, it is always the case, including here, that they must do a further year of induction. They are not fully qualified until they have done a year of induction. Heretofore, they had to do that year of induction in the country in which they did their training. There was a derogation during Covid but that has now expired. The Teaching Council is currently looking at that to see what potential there is going forward. However, teachers are not qualified until they have completed their year of induction.

This is a Covid amendment regulation. In the more than four years since Covid sadly landed on these shores, as it did across the rest of the world, what engagement has the Department had on an ongoing basis with the Teaching Council in this regard? Clearly, an issue was identified and addressed at that point in time and that regulation was put in place, but the Minister spoke of a statutory instrument. Has the Department engaged with the Teaching Council on an ongoing basis with regard to this query? As I said regarding teachers who complete their teaching qualification in England, we need them here, we want them here and they want to be here. In the four years since the pandemic hit, surely there was some ongoing correspondence or ongoing engagement to see what was the best practice that could be taken from an amendment that was put in place at that time to smoothen the pathway for teachers who want to come here.

As I said in my previous reply, through engagement with the Teaching Council on this matter, I can advise and will advise again that the council is considering any further amendment to provide for the completion of induction in Ireland for overseas-qualified teachers in the context of its legislative framework, including relevant EU legislation. I again say to the Deputy that teachers are only qualified when they do the induction. It has been possible in the past, due to a temporary measure being introduced, that they could complete their induction here in Ireland.

From the engagement with the Teaching Council, it is clear that it is looking to see what scope there is going forward, but it is ultimately a matter for the Teaching Council. It must be satisfied the appropriate qualifications are being applied in the appropriate manner for all teachers who wish to qualify. It is my understanding, however, as I said, that, through engagement with the council, that matter is being given consideration.