Michael Moynihan
Cork North-West · Fianna Fáil · Ireland
“I cannot emphasise enough the respect that the Minister, Deputy Naughton, and I have for special needs assistants and the contribution they make to education. In March, we met the SNAs to have further engagement and consultation with them and to understand their roles.”
“We are very conscious of the issue. A huge number of groups that I have met over the past while, particularly on the dyslexia side, have all been discussing assistive technologies. That is also the case for children who are non-communicative and non-verbal. Assistive technologies are extremely important for them.”
“By way of background, 85% of the applications processed for assistive technology between January and June have been approved. We are always conscious of those who fall outside the scheme.”
“The approximate cost to the State per mainstream pupil is currently €1,400 annually, while the cost to the family is €100 per pupil. The total cost of the school transport system in 2025 was €537 million, equating to almost €3 million being spent on the provision of school transport per day.”
“I thank the Deputy. We are looking at ways to ensure that if there is a ticket issued, it will be used. Anecdotally, the Deputy and other colleagues tell us about school routes the length and breadth of the country that have spare capacity but, when we look at the system, all of the tickets on that particular school route are occupied and…”
“Under the current scheme, schools receive funding towards computers and specialised equipment required for educational purposes. To qualify, a student must have a diagnosis of a physical or commutative disability and a professional assessment confirming the equipment is essential to access the curriculum.”
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“I know the Senator has been working very closely with the school and, as he alluded to, other representatives as well. The planning has been granted, and the Le Chéile Schools Trust has advised that the Stage 2b report is expected to be submitted by the end of quarter 1 of this year. Once received, it will undergo a detailed technical and cost review in line with the public spending code. Managing timing, scope and cost is crucial to staying within budgetary limits for the overall programme. The Senator will be aware, as he alluded to in his comments, that the Department published its €7.55 billion national development plan sectoral investment plan for education for the period 2026 to 2030. The plan involves a very strong emphasis on maximising existing capacity and prioritisation of school building projects to meet the most urgent needs.”
“I thank Senator Kyne for raising the matter. It gives me an opportunity to brief Seanad Éireann on the current position in relation to St. Joseph’s Patrician College, or the Bish, in Galway. The Senator is well aware that this was approved as a major devolved construction project to provide a long-term projected enrolment of 1,000 pupils and a four-classroom special educational needs base. It has been devolved for delivery to the Le Chéile Schools Trust. The senior Minister, Deputy Naughton, is very supportive of this project. The project is currently at stage 2b of the architectural design process. This stage allows for detailed design and planning, obtaining necessary statutory permissions and preparing for the tender documents.”
“It is important that information is brought to us, and we can assure that we will work with it in a timely fashion, because these are important projects for every school community.”
“I reassure him that when the documentation is lodged with the Department we will give it the urgent attention it needs. There will be back and forth on the ongoing issues between the school authorities and the patron bodies on this project. It is important right across the country but particularly in growing areas. We understand the need of both St. Joseph's and the Gaelscoil with regard to this project. I am taking this on behalf of Hildegarde Naughton, who is the senior Minister dealing with school projects. I assure the Deputy that I will press on her the urgency he has outlined in the Dáil. We will continue to work with it, not just tonight but I assure him we will continue to work. It is important that we are notified when the documentation is lodged with the Department from CEIST, the patron body.”
“I understand this is the Deputy's former school where he has taught, so he knows first-hand the challenges being faced in the school communities there. He has outlined it in his opening remarks. I reassure the Deputy that the project is at stage 2B and CEIST has advised that the stage 2B report is ongoing. It is important there is no delay at any stage. The Deputy outlined the issue with prefabricated buildings. We have had a huge investment across the education sector over the past number of years and into the future. Education is so important for the future of our students and our country and the students going to this school. The Deputy outlined the population growth in the community there. They are matters that will be taken into account.”
“As part of planning ahead for the next tranche of projects to progress to tender, the Department-led prioritisation process will continue over the coming years to assess and evaluate the progress of individual projects through the design pipeline having regard to the continuing need to maximise existing capacity and determine the prioritised need going forward. This process will involve engagement with key stakeholders and individual schools. The accommodation needs at St Joseph's Secondary School and Gaelscoil Ros Eo will be considered as part of the ongoing overall Department-led prioritisation process in consultation with the school authorities and patron into the future. I assure the Deputy we are well aware of the challenges there and of the growing need within the community as it expands.”
“The Department will continue to build on the progress made over recent years and will continue to roll out projects on a prioritisation basis to meet the urgent needs in the provision of additional capacity and modernisation of existing buildings. In this regard, the Department has also published a list of 105 school building projects in the first tranche to proceed to construction or tender over the coming years. I recognise schools with important building projects are not included in the first tranche of prioritised projects.”
“Of the €7.55 billion investment, it is envisaged that circa €5 billion will be used for projects to roll out the support, delivery and modernisation of school buildings across the large-scale, additional accommodation, modular, and annual September accommodation needs programmes. Over the course of 2026 and 2027, there will be construction work at some 10% of the school estate nationwide. These projects will, when completed, provide an extra 57,000 additional and modernised school places with a strong focus on special education in all of the projects. It is important to acknowledge and understand that, going forward, we are going to put fierce emphasis in all projects, both at primary and post-primary levels, that they encompass special education as well.”
“Planning has been granted, and CEIST has advised that the stage 2b report is currently ongoing. Once the stage 2b report has been received by the Department, it will undergo a detailed technical and cost review in line with public spending code. Managing timing, scope and cost is crucial to staying within budgetary limits for the overall programme. The Department recently published the €7.55 billion national development plan sectoral investment plan for the education and youth sectors for the period 2026 to 2030. This plan involves a very strong emphasis on maximising existing capacity and prioritisation of school building projects to meet the most urgent needs. There will be a strong special education dimension to projects being roll out.”
“I thank Deputy O'Donoghue for the question. I will update the Deputy and the House on the current situation regarding the building project for St. Joseph's Secondary School and Gaelscoil Ros Eo in Rush, County Dublin. The delivery of this campus project has been devolved to Catholic Education, an Irish Schools Trust, CEIST. The brief for St. Joseph’s Secondary School includes the provision of a 1,000-pupil post-primary school, including a four-classroom special education base. The brief for Gaelscoil Ros Eo includes the delivery of a 16-classroom primary school with one special education base. The project is currently at stage 2b of the architectural design process. This stage allows for detailed design and planning, obtaining the necessary statutory permissions, and the preparation of tender documents.”
“This has been looked at very carefully but, as we go into the new DEIS programme, I and the current and former Ministers, Deputies Naughton, McEntee and Foley, as well as Department officials, are acutely aware of this anomaly that is showing up within the system. One thing we need to do is to make sure that we are tackling disadvantage at its core and that we are not leaving anybody behind. Education is one of the great levellers and one of the great enablers. We want to ensure we get it right in the inner city and right across the country. The Deputy could no be more direct in the picture he paints of this issue. It is something the Department is giving serious consideration to in the context of the DEIS strategy, which we are committed to publishing in the coming months.”
“I thank the Deputy for the question and the energy he has put into it. The DEIS programme has been hugely successful right across the country, both in urban and rural Ireland, to ensure that we are tackling disadvantage at its core. Retaining students within the education system is a huge priority for the Government. It is huge for Government policy and for my colleague, the Minister, Deputy Hildegarde Naughton, and me as well. We are acutely aware of the challenges that exist. The DEIS programme has shown up the challenges. On a number of occasions, we have seen that schools which are practically on the same campuses and have pupils from the same socio-economic backgrounds are classified in different strands. The system to designate DEIS schools is completely automated.”
“Ten primary schools located within the north-east inner city with DEIS band 1 status, in addition to having the high percentage of pupils enrolled within the north-east inner city, are classified as such schools. It is important to recognise the challenges outlined by the Deputy and to compliment the team working there. I have no doubt that they are doing extraordinary work, particularly in relation to the challenges the Deputy outlined. We will be publishing the new DEIS strategy in the coming months but issues like that will have to be fed into that process as well.”
“Any future changes to the overall allocation of resources to schools under the DEIS programme will be considered within the context of the new DEIS strategy. In respect of the education provisions, the National Council for Special Education, NCSE, works with schools to ensure pupils in special classes receive an appropriate education, with teachers, SNAs and inclusion supports. In relation to support provided in the north-east inner city project, it should be noted that in order to be classified as a north-east inner city primary school, the primary school must be a DEIS urban band 1 school located within the north-east inner city boundaries. St. Joseph's Primary School in Fairview is not located within the boundaries and does not have the DEIS urban band 1 status.”
“The designation of neighbouring schools to different DEIS status does not mean that there is no educational disadvantage present in one school. It means that the concentrated level of educational disadvantage of the two schools is different. The Minister, Deputy Naughton, is committed to narrowing the performance gap between DEIS and non-DEIS schools and introducing an innovative solution to address disadvantage. To this end, the new DEIS strategy to 2035 will be published in the coming months. This will focus on improving the opportunities and achievement levels of children at risk of education disadvantage, developing more innovative approaches to tackling education disadvantage and working towards a more flexible system of support to ensure that a school can receive the right supports at the right time.”
“The DEIS programme is targeted at schools with the highest level of concentrated disadvantage, with the DEIS urban band 1 schools representing those with the highest concentration of students with the greatest level of need and therefore receiving the most intensive supports. Schools with DEIS urban band 2 supports also face significant need and receive a broad range of supports, including the reduced pupil-teacher ratio, additional school grants, access to the home-school community liaison scheme and the school completion programme, literacy and numeracy initiatives and targeted attendance and retention measures. It is possible for two neighbouring schools to have different profiles in terms of the proportion of students from disadvantaged backgrounds and the relative weighting of disadvantage apportioned in each.”
“It is like being in a meeting in Cork North-West. I am delighted to see how professional an operation it is. I am delighted to be serving with the Cathaoirleach Gníomhach as well. Deputy Heneghan raised the issue in relation to disadvantage in the north-east inner city. I thank the Deputy for his engagement on education matters in the role that I hold at the moment. I urge all Deputies and all public representatives to continue engaging on education because it is hugely important for the future of our country. Education has served Ireland very well over the last decades and beyond and we need to ensure that we are really up to speed with it. The DEIS programme supports 1,200 primary and post-primary schools, reaching approximately 260,000 students with an annual investment of €180 million.”
“I thank the Senator for his comments and his interest in education. When I have further information to hand, I will bring it to his attention.”
“There are many other school communities that we need to bring into the fold. We need to ensure they open special classes because we need to have special classes in every community, urban and rural, so that people do not have to travel. It is important that we do that. I compliment the school on what it is doing. I thank the Senator for raising the issues and look forward to working with him. When the conclusions of the NCSE and the Department's consultation with the school authorities are made available to me, I will bring them straight to the Senator's attention. As always, I look forward to visiting Ennistymon and Clare, as I have done in summer over the years. I have seen at first hand the massive school building. It is across the hill from where we have stayed for the past few years. We look forward to our visit to Clare every year.”
“I thank the Senator, and Mary and her team. It is a great tribute to the Senator's friend as well. I acknowledge that. I also thank the Senator for his kind words on the job at hand. On the specific school, I confirm that the Department and the NCSE are continuing to liaise with the school authorities on additional classes. We are trying to make sure we have classes within existing structures across education systems. We have many challenges in that regard but the Department and the NCSE will continue to engage to make sure we bring this to fruition. I thank the Senator for the comments he made. It is also important to acknowledge the great work being done by school authorities across the country which have embraced special education, many in recent years and decades.”
“I propose to take back the issue raised by the Senator and then report directly to him when we have an update from both the Department and the NCSE.”
“There is huge demand right across the country, but particularly in Dublin, of which we are acutely aware. We understand all that. I take the points that the Senator made about the buildings. What we are trying to do across the country is look at what can be done within existing school buildings. In every school in which we will open special classes, we would have to go in with new build or modular build but those decisions are being made at the moment. My Department and the NCSE have weekly meetings to monitor them. Over the next number of weeks as the position becomes clearer, I propose that I come back to the Senator with an update rather than giving carte blanche information here this morning that we might not be able to stand over.”
“I compliment the school leadership, the teachers and the SNAs for the work that they do within the school every day. It is always great to see it when schools that already have special classes look forward to having more because they see the benefit and get a huge sense of reward from working with children with additional needs. I saw that quite clearly from the work being done by many of the schools that we visited across the country over the last number of months. The NCSE has engaged extremely closely with school authorities in terms of what is needed into the future. The next tranche of announcements will occur within the next week or so. The NCSE and the Department are working very closely with this school's authorities to ensure we understand what they want to enlarge the cohort of special education requirements within the school.”
“That is the first tranche of the amount of schools that we will sanction over the next number of months. We hope to be in a position to sanction other schools in the not-too-distant future. All Members of the Houses of the Oireachtas will be made aware of them, they will be on the NCSE's website and the school authorities will be notified about them. In terms of Stapolin and the school mentioned, I know about the great work that is being done there. The school already has three special classes, with two dedicated to children with autism and one for students with developmental language disorder or speech and sound disorder. That school community does exemplary work. They really are at the cutting edge in terms of what they provide to students right across mainstream but particularly for special classes.”
“I thank the Senator for raising this issue. We all have connections to school communities, be they within our own communities or, indeed, across the country. It is hugely important that political representation continues to engage with school communities because they are the bedrock of the future of our society. The Senator is right to say that special education is very important to me. Since I took up this role, I have worked with the then Minister, Deputy McEntee, over the last number of months and now with the new Minister, Deputy Naughton. We look forward to advancing all education, in particular special education. As the Senator may be aware, an additional 168 classes have been sanctioned across 159 schools over the last couple of weeks.”
“I thank her for raising the issue because it allows me the time to do that. I thank all Deputies for constantly raising these issues because it is hugely important to have them raised on the floor of the Dáil.”
“The challenge the Department has is that we are not getting the information early enough. We have children on the access and inclusion model, AIM, programme or on domiciliary care, which are in different Departments. We need all of that information because if we are to do the right thing and ensure we do not have endless debates on special education in the Dáil, the Seanad or committees, we need to know the challenges being faced and plan accordingly. We will move to an earlier date to ensure better planning. We have to deal with all aspects of education. The date is hugely important for proper planning. We are looking at all cases notified after 1 October and we are working extremely hard. If the Deputy shares details of individual cases she has, I will look at them and do the best I can.”
“I note the issue the Deputy has with the family who are looking for a letter of eligibility. If she shares with me details of that specific case, we will take it up and respond to the Deputy, rather than giving a carte blanche reply. It is important that we are very clear in our public statements that we are working extremely hard to make sure children who were notified before 1 October last have provision. We are also aware of the challenges that have arisen since 1 October. We have to make sure we do the right thing for all children. The concern I have is that we brought the date back to 1 October last year to have better planning. We will have to bring that date back further. We will make announcements about that earlier. We need to get it into the system.”
“It is important that, in the Dáil, we give information to families because they are stressed and challenged about this. We are working extremely hard. We understand their plight and their difficulties and stresses. We are trying to make sure the system works. We are changing the dates and bringing them forward. This is for better planning so that we have a better system in the future than we have had heretofore.”
“We are working to that basis. We understand the challenges that are there. Regarding what the Deputy has raised with me, I have seen it coming through quite clearly where there is a school place but the letter of eligibility is the issue. I assure the Deputy that the National Council for Special Education and the Department of education are working very diligently to try to resolve those matters. Regarding Wicklow, I reassure the Deputy that we are aware of the need within Wicklow. While only three special classes were on the list last week, there will be many more to follow. If we are to meet the need in Wicklow, there will be special schools and special school places. I assure the Deputy we will. I thank the Deputy for raising the matter.”
“The NCSE and the Department are working meticulously through the numbers, along with school authorities, some of which have been absolutely fantastic in putting their hands up and saying they will take a special class. We are moving with that. We have challenges in other parts of the country where we will have to work extremely hard with patron bodies and school authorities to make sure we have special classes there. There is a lot of work ongoing in relation to this. We met right up to 23 December and we were meeting early in January to do it. Regarding the children who were notified after 1 October, in a previous contribution I made to the Deputy, I said we were acutely aware of it. We are striving to make sure that all children will have school places. That is what I set out at the very start when I was appointed almost a year ago now.”
“We moved back the date so that we could plan properly for right across the country and see the level of need that was there. There has been a volume of work done since the middle of October when the figures were correlated to try to meet the demand within the communities. On the point the Deputy made in relation to travelling, some of the onerous journeys that children with additional needs are travelling would try anybody. It is hugely important that we put the class in where the need is within the community. In the first instance, I reassure the Deputy that we will be opening more classes. They will be announced over the next number of weeks. We will be announcing them on a phased basis.”
“I thank the Deputy for raising the issue because it allows me to outline where things are at. Two weeks ago, we announced the first tranche of the special classes. There will be multiples of those over the next number of weeks. It is not the case that it is just the number of classes that were announced as opening two weeks ago; there are a number of them. To reassure the Deputy, we are aware of the challenges in Wicklow, both on a special school and special class basis. I will deal with this in two pieces, if the Deputy does not mind. We moved the date to 1 October because when I came into this position last year, the deadline was 1 February. Due to Storm Éowyn and so forth, it was really 1 March before we understood the level of need.”
“When a commitment is given that leaflets will be sent out, that must be sacrosanct. It must be done because it is only with the collaboration and the goodwill of the public that we will can effect change; not just in this but right across government.”
“The Department of Transport is engaging with the National Transport Authority, which will continue to monitor the situation closely and make further refinements where necessary. Recent actions taken during the roll-out of the BusConnects Dublin phase 7 demonstrated the collective and collaborative approach between the Government, the NTA and the public transport operators in being responsive to the feedback provided in the best interest of the passengers. I will relay exactly what the Deputy has said but it is also hugely important for public bodies such as the National Transport Authority to be very closely aligned and listening to the concerns of the public. Those are concerns for those who, in this instance, are using the services on a twice-daily period.”
“Regarding the 80 and the 130 bus routes, it is of course acknowledged that these changes will require some passengers to take different routes. Following on from the discussions with Dublin City Council, in 2027 and in advance of the closure of Dame Street between College Green and South Great George's Street to facilitate the College Green pedestrian plaza scheme planned by Dublin City Council, it is proposed that this temporary rerouting be removed. In this event, route 80 and route 130 will then be combined into one route on a cross-city basis. The combined route will run along the north and south quays between Heuston Station and the Custom House. The NTA understands that changes of this scale require adjustments and that some customers may experience challenges during the bedding-in period.”
“The outbound direction is the same but will use Westmoreland Street instead of D'Olier Street. It is, of course, acknowledged that these changes require some passengers to make their journey in a different way. However, in other cases, customers now benefit from direct services where transfers were previously required, while others may need to interchange. The TFI 90-minute fare ensures that transfers incur no additional cost for the customer. Following discussions with-----”
“As the Deputy will be aware, on 28 November, the NTA announced that it would amend the alignment of route 80, which runs from Chapelizod to the city centre, in response to passenger needs. The amended route now continues along the north quays to O'Connell Bridge and Custom House Quay before heading north. The NTA also announced a proposal to merge route 80 with the existing route 130, which currently runs from the city centre to Clontarf. The temporary re-routing of bus route 80 will be implemented on 8 February. In the inbound direction, the re-routed route 80 will continue along the north quays to O'Connell Bridge, turning south onto D'Olier Street, College Street, College Green and Dame Street, before rejoining the existing 80 route on South Great Georges Street.”
“The aim of the network is to improve the existing Transport for Ireland system through enhanced services with high-frequency spines and new local, orbital and radial routes. In regard to the NTA's proposed merger of the Dublin Bus 130 route with the 80 route, the NTA acknowledges that, for a variety of reasons, including city centre congestion, routes such as the 80, which replaced the 26 route, did not meet the expectations of customers following the introduction of the F-spine under phase 7. When rolling out phases of the BusConnects network, the NTA commits to monitoring new services, identifying issues and implementing fixes where appropriate. The NTA takes all feedback from the public very seriously, as it should, because it is the public who are using the system.”
“The NTA works with the public transport operators, who deliver the services and have responsibility for day-to-day operational matters. That being said, I assure the Deputy that the Government is strongly committed to providing all citizens with reliable and realistic sustainable mobility options, and public transport plays a key role in the delivery of this goal. To support this objective, in budget 2026, the Department of Transport secured €940 million of funding for public service obligation, PSO, and TFI Local Link services – a significant 43% uplift, and an increase from €658.4 million in 2025. BusConnects is the largest investment in the bus system in the history of the State and is managed by the NTA.”
“On my way down we were discussing the odds that Deputy Heneghan would raise the issue. I assure him that a lot of work is going on in this regard right across the education system. I will address the matter in response to the matter raised by Deputy Whitmore. I thank Deputy Heneghan for raising this important topic, which I am taking on behalf of the Minister for Transport, Deputy Darragh O'Brien. While the Minister has responsibility for policy and overall funding for public transport, neither he nor his officials have any involvement in the day-to-day operation of public transport services. The statutory responsibility for securing the provision of public passenger transport services nationally rests with the National Transport Authority.”
“The other thing is that we need Departments to share information like the domiciliary care details from the Department of Social Protection or the AIMS programme, so we understand the need early on as a State. These are some of the barriers we are trying to break down. The whole of government is involved in that. The Cabinet subcommittee is very clear on the need for a step change in relation to special education. I am fortunate to be in this role and working with Hildegarde Naughton on it. We are committed to doing this. There are and will be challenges but we are committed to breaking down those challenges. We will work to find solutions for those who notified after 1 October. I am open to the Deputy and to Deputies across the House. We will try to work on any cases raised. We do not have magic wands.”
“The Deputy mentioned the need, the extensions and the fact those extensions are full. We have sight of what is needed for September 2026 and are working extremely hard. There were meetings right up to Christmas and again last week, when we announced the first tranche of special classes. We will be announcing more than 600 classes across the entire system to match the need for September 2026. Going back to the Deputy's original point, people will acknowledge that we brought forward the portal for 1 October. We need to do better on that. This was the first year of it. We have to work on it and ensure that a proper system is in place and that we see the figures long before time.”
“I would like to pay tribute to Miceál, who is the principal of that school, and the teams in all the special schools across the country - the teachers, SNAs and all the additional people who work there. I was at a special school in the south of Ireland in September. As I was walking along the corridor, one of the team there was using a measuring tape because they were putting together a chair out of a box for a student. There was no notice taken of it when I stopped to discuss it with them. It was part of their work. The care, love and attention that teams in special schools and special classes, and indeed throughout the education system, give to children with additional needs across the length and breadth of the country is commendable. We have to be ahead of the need.”
“Deputies across the House have come to me on this. We will work on individual cases. Reopening the portal is not something we are looking at because that would further confuse things. We need to get the information earlier. We know there are specific issues in some families. Parents of children with additional needs face stresses, are trying to balance everything and may have missed it, or they may be waiting for an assessment or for the letters. We need to be mindful of the challenges they face and work to find a solution. I know the Deputy will share the individual cases directly with me and we will work on a case-by-case basis on it.”
“We acknowledge that 1 October was a new deadline. We need to get that into the mindset of the entire educational system into the future. The Department and the NCSE had extensive discussions with Helen McEntee prior to November and have had discussions again this week with Hildegarde Naughton. We are acutely aware of the challenge. The Deputy asked if we could work on a case-by-case basis. That is what we are doing. The deadline we set was, for the first time, 1 October. An awful lot of good information has come in and we are able to plan better. It allowed us to announce last week the first tranche of special classes, which happened four months earlier than last year. We have a number of families that notified after the 1 October deadline and we are working on that challenge. We will work with and support families.”
“To see the fear, anxiety and concern of the parent in that instance guided me before I took this position but also in many challenges over the past year. We need to bring certainty. We set it as 1 October and brought it back four months so the Department, the planning and building unit and the NCSE would have an understanding of the need in September 2026 and we could better plan and ensure there is a place for every child whether in a special class, in special school or in mainstream. A lot of work has been done and a huge number of families and guardians notified the NCSE of the special education requirements for their children for September 2026. We are working through that. A number of families have come forward to say that because of different challenges, they have gone beyond that deadline.”
“I thank the Deputy for the genuineness of the question. Without filling it out, she has gone directly the core of the issue. I will respond accordingly. We have had a huge amount of investment in special education, which I am glad to see, over the past number of years and last year we expanded that. This time last year, after being appointed, the deadline was 1 February. We were then correlating and getting the information in February and it was March or April before we were in any position to help families or give certainty to them. My guide in terms of providing in this role is something that happened a number of years ago. I was at the school gate where one child was finishing in a special class and they did not know where they were going to go on 1 September for post-primary education. They were asking me for guidance and help.”
“Into the future we will look at how we can accommodate it in mainstream education by means of nurture rooms, quiet spaces or sensory gardens because a lot of school communities are fundraising for that. Without guarantees, we will see if there is any way of funding it. We will do what we can. If we can, we will but if we cannot, we will let the Deputy know. We will follow up on the issues the Deputy has raised.”
“It was remiss of me not to mention at the outset that the Deputy's colleague, Deputy Pa Daly, raised an issue in relation to the HSE and the Department of education. I will follow up on that from our side as well about getting the Donal Walsh video circulated. On St. Brendan's College, I will go back to the planning and building unit and we will see where that is at. I take the point about funding. The cost of building is going to increase, has increased dramatically over the past while and will continue to increase. The sooner we get these projects up and running, the better. I assure Deputy Conway-Walsh that in all these projects we are very much aware of making special education central in all applications to make sure we provide for it.”