Saincheisteanna Tráthúla - Topical Issue Debate – Dáil Éireann (34th Dáil) – Wednesday, 21 Jan 2026

Saincheisteanna Tráthúla - Topical Issue Debate

Health Services Staff

Deputy Tom Brabazon

I raise the issue of arrangements by section 39 organisations for healthcare assistants in respect of the pay increase agreed last year. I refer specifically to the healthcare assistants at Northside Home Care Services who, apparently, were somehow left out of this pay agreement and are now on strike. Northside Home Care Services provides a vital service to the most vulnerable members of society in the Dublin 5 and Dublin 17 areas of my constituency of Dublin Bay North. Approximately 50 healthcare assistants are now on strike due to their recategorisation as non-section 39 workers.

In replies to parliamentary questions submitted by my immediate predecessor, former Deputy Seán Haughey, in 2024, and by Deputy Dolan last year, the HSE confirmed that Northside Home Care Services is, in fact, a designated section 39 agency. However, while 40,000 other workers in section 39 agencies will see their pay rise, the healthcare assistants at Northside Home Care Services will not see a rise. It is not just the staff who are affected but also those who use the service, and are now without access to it due to the strike action, and their families, who must make alternative arrangements to ensure their loved ones receive the care they require. This means they have to take time off work and cancel appointments in order to attend to their family members and those close to them. Can any intervention be made in respect of this situation?

Minister of State at the Department of Health (Deputy Mary Butler)

I thank the Deputy for raising this really important issue in regard to arrangements by section 39 organisations for healthcare assistants. First, I acknowledge the important role section 39 grant-funded organisations and staff play in our health sector, particularly the healthcare assistants working within those organisations. They have a key role in providing services to people with disabilities and older people in our communities. In the previous Dáil, as Minister of State with responsibility for older people, I worked very closely with various organisations and met with people from Northside Home Care Services, who do phenomenal work. I recall they were classed as walkers because a lot of their work is done in streets immediately close to where they live, which means they do not have to be jumping in and out of cars.

As I stand here today, approximately 56,000 to 57,000 people all over the country will receive home care. It is hugely important to support people to live for as long as possible in their own homes with those vital supports of home care, daycare and meals-on-wheels services. I certainly will raise the Deputy's specific issue with the Minister of State, Deputy O'Donnell, under whose remit it falls.

Under section 39 of the Health Act 2004, the Health Service Executive provides assistance to organisations that provide services similar to a service the HSE may provide. However, section 39 grant-funded organisations are privately owned and run, and the terms and conditions of employment of staff in those organisations, once in line with employment legislation, are strictly between the employer and the employee.

In relation to terms and conditions for those working in section 39 grant-funded organisations, an agreement was reached at the Workplace Relations Commission, WRC, on 10 March 2025, between Irish Congress of Trade Unions, ICTU, unions and relevant Departments to fund a 9.25% pay increase for health and social care and homeless sector employers, equivalent to increases given under the Public Service Agreement 2024-2026. That was a breakthrough and it was welcomed by all sectors. The pay terms are backdated to start from October 2024, with implementation over a two-year period to the end of 2026, comprising 2.25% on 1 October 2024, 1% on 1 April 2025, 2% on 1 November 2025, 2% on 1 April 2026 and 2% on 1 October 2026.

This agreement applies to organisations grant-funded under section 39 of the Health Act 2004, section 56 of the Child and Family Agency Act 2013, section 10 of the Housing Act 1988 and section 40 of the Domestic, Sexual and Gender-Based Violence Agency Act 2023. These workers are employed in community and voluntary organisations that are not public bodies. It is only organisations in these categories that are within the scope of the agreement, and therein lies the problem. I am not sure of the details in regard to Northside Home Care Services and why its staff fall outside the scope of the agreement. Many healthcare assistants work in home care, which is now a tendered service and is not grant funded through the section 39 provisions and, as such, there are organisations and workers who are not encompassed by the agreement. While the agreement is substantial and provides increases for a broad range of employees across sections 10, 39, 40, and 56 funded organisations, it encompasses only those organisations that are grant funded and does not encompass tendered services.

Funding for services commissioned through tendering arrangements is not covered in the agreement as those services are separately contracted with relevant providers. Related considerations can be dealt with through existing procurement processes. When the Deputy responds, he might be able to explain a little more about the situation of Northside Home Care Services. I think he said it was previously classified by the HSE as a section 39 organisation but is now falling outside that scope and, even though an agreement was made with ICTU for an uplift for staff of section 39 organisations, its staff are not able to avail of it.

Deputy Tom Brabazon

I thank the Minister of State. A response to a parliamentary question in 2024 stated that Northside Home Care Services was categorised as a section 39 organisation. The HSE has communicated to these particular workers' representative body that the issue is due to their employer tendering rather than receiving a grant. We have always had a principle in labour law in this country that there be equal pay for equal work. This group of people are being discriminated against by virtue of how their employer is being paid. It is completely unjust, unfair and inequitable.

Will the Minister of State or her colleague, the Minister of State, Deputy O'Donnell, who has specific responsibility for this issue, meet with these people and intervene in this dispute? It is not just affecting the workers; it is also affecting the clients of Northside Home Care Services, who are elderly and vulnerable, as the Minister of State, Deputy Butler, is well aware. The workers will be outside Leinster House at 10 a.m. this morning. There is an opportunity for the Minister of State, Deputy O'Donnell, to go outside and meet them and discuss their grievances.

Deputy Mary Butler

I certainly will raise this issue with the Minister of State, Deputy O'Donnell, this morning. I am not sure whether he is in the building right now. I understand he is not, which is why I am here taking this Topical Issue. I appreciate that some groups, and these workers are not the only such group, are not covered by the WRC agreement and may be disappointed. However, the agreement reached covers only grant-funded organisations, which means it does not apply to those organisations that tender as against receiving a grant. Funding for services commissioned through tendering arrangements is not covered in this agreement as they are separately contracted with relevant providers.

I will speak to the Minister of State to see whether any intervention can be made or, at least, whether it can be looked at to see what is the situation. My understanding is that there might be some other organisations that are in the same circumstances. I will speak to my colleague later in the day.

Disabilities Assessments

Deputy Robert O'Donoghue

The situation regarding waiting times for speech and language therapy in CHO 9, particularly for children in my constituency of Dublin Fingal West, has gone from beyond delay and is entering the territory of systemic neglect. Children in CHO 9 are waiting not months but years for basic speech and language assessments and then face further delays before therapy begins. These children are at the most critical stage of their development, yet the State is, in effect, telling families to wait and hope the damage is not permanent.

CHO 9 has, going back years, repeatedly reported some of the longest waiting times nationwide for disability services, especially for contact and assessment, mainly due to staff training shortages and high demand. I know the Minister of State realises early intervention is not a slogan; it is an evidence-based practice. When speech and language needs are not addressed early, children fall behind societally and emotionally. I am dealing with families whose children are in school and unable to communicate at the same level as their peers, not because their need was not identified but because the public system is failing to act on time.

These delays are actively undermining children's development. They are increasing demand for resources in education, thereby placing additional strain on teachers. I used to work with those teachers and they have vocalised this to me. The delays are also causing enormous distress to parents whose children are missing crucial developmental milestones. The default response to this crisis has been to cite recruitment and retention difficulties, but recruitment and retention cannot be the only answer when children are being left without services year after year.

I would like the Minister of State to answer a couple of questions directly. What is being done to address the unacceptable waiting times in CHO 9 beyond repeating the same recruitment talking points that families have been hearing for years? What concrete mechanisms are in place to train and deploy more speech and language therapists? Are training places in colleges being increased? Are supervised graduate roles being funded?

Families are not waiting for strategy documents or further policies that may not work; they are waiting for services. While the system fails them, parents are being forced into private therapies just to prevent their children from falling behind. That is not a choice; it is desperation. Families are paying hundreds and, in some cases, thousands of euro because the public system cannot meet the demand. Some families have taken out credit union loans to fund therapies for their children.

I would appreciate it if the Minister of State could clarify one point. Are parents who pay for private therapies being taken off the public waiting lists? In other areas of healthcare, when waiting lists spiral out of control, the State intervenes, and the National Treatment Purchase Fund comes to mind. Why are speech and language services for children treated differently? Why can parents not be reimbursed when they are forced to go private due to excessive public waiting times? A similar reimbursement or purchase scheme would immediately relieve pressure on public services and offer families some measure of fairness, while the Minister works on bringing public waiting times under control.

The current approach is effectively outsourcing early intervention to parents’ bank accounts, which is not sustainable. Children in my constituency of Dublin Fingal West and across CHO 9 cannot wait for the system to slowly catch up. I ask the Minister of State to stop managing this process and start resolving it, and to provide clear timelines, meaningful interim supports and a credible plan that delivers services now, not coming up to the next general election.

Deputy Mary Butler

The Minister for Health has asked me to thank the Deputy for raising this matter and for the opportunity to update the Dáil on this important issue. She is acutely aware of the role that primary care services, such as speech and language therapy, have in offering the opportunity for early and cost-effective interventions for children and young people. Nobody will disagree with the Deputy’s point that early intervention is key. There is nothing more worrying or frustrating for parents when their child needs an intervention than that the child is on a waiting list. I accept and acknowledge that. We all have issues about that in our own constituencies. The Minister fully acknowledges that waiting lists for primary care therapies have increased significantly over recent years. The waiting lists are too long, with too many people, especially children, waiting a very long time to access services. We know we need to address this.

The HSE has advised that the increased pressure and demand on primary care therapy services are related to an increase in referrals, the increasing complexity of presentations, leading to longer interventions, and challenges related to recruitment and retention of healthcare professionals in the community. These factors have all contributed to an increase in waiting lists for services across the country.

I will now respond to the Deputy’s specific questions. In the integrated healthcare area, IHA, for north county Dublin, the HSE has advised that there is an ongoing focus on recruitment to fill the vacancies in this speech and language therapy service. In this area, the HSE has undertaken a number of measures to address the long waiting times for SLT services, working to improve access, ensure appropriate prioritisation and provide ongoing support to families awaiting direct intervention. Such measures include monthly advice clinics that are available to all children and families in the community. These clinics provide an opportunity for families to receive guidance, resources and early support while awaiting an SLT assessment. Additionally, the HSE is running overtime clinics across the area to target children with the longest waiting times.

The HSE has also advised that a prioritisation tool is being utilised to identify children with the highest levels of need, that is, to triage the children to enable the most appropriate response. Furthermore, the HSE is delivering a project for those aged under three years in the north Dublin IHA, which specifically targets younger children and facilitates early intervention, with shorter waiting times.

Notwithstanding that good work, the Minister acknowledges that a lot more needs to be done to improve timely access to services. To address the long waiting times at a national level, the Department of Health is currently working with the HSE on a focused programmatic approach to primary care therapy waiting list management. I have spoken at length with the CEO of the HSE, Bernard Gloster, and the Minister in relation to this issue. I welcome this dedicated focus on a programmatic approach to primary care therapy waiting list management, given that the waiting lists are extremely long. As part of that work programme, the Minister has asked the HSE to reduce the waiting times for three therapies to less than ten months by the end of this year. The three therapies targeted are speech and language therapy, occupational therapy and physiotherapy. This initiative will remove over 60,000 people, including children, from the waiting lists and will be a huge improvement on the current position, which is that approximately one third of people on primary care waiting lists are waiting over a year for a service.

Deputy Robert O'Donoghue

I appreciate the measures being undertaken. This is not an issue to play politics with. To achieve a timeframe of ten months will be a huge bonus in CHO 9, given where we are now.

I have raised this issue previously, although not with the Minister of State. I feel compelled to raise it again, and I have permission from the parents to do so. A child in my constituency of Dublin Fingal West, Willow, who turned nine last November, has been waiting for speech and language therapy for two years, since she was seven, so ten months would be a big improvement. We know that children of Willow’s age are acutely aware of their differences in school, and the delay is severely affecting her confidence both in school and with her peers. Her parents now feel they have no choice but to consider private therapy. That is why I am asking if they will be taken off the waiting list if they choose to go for private therapy. They are trying to do their best for their child and the family.

I have been pursuing a resolution of this case for over ten months. I continue to be passed from health to disability services and back to health again, but I have failed to progress the matter. In Willow’s case, we have failed. We have failed children who continually wait for speech and language therapy. We need to address this issue now. I welcome the Minister of State's response and the measures being taken.

Deputy Mary Butler

I acknowledge the Deputy’s continued advocacy on the provision of the myriad therapies that children, young people and adults need. It is important to recognise that overall activity within the eight core primary care therapies was significant in 2025, with approximately 1.24 million appointments provided across occupational therapy, physiotherapy, dietetics, psychology, speech and language therapy, audiology, ophthalmology and podiatry services to the end of November 2025. However, that is cold comfort to any family or child waiting for these services. I thank the Deputy for sharing that story. It is very difficult for a young girl of seven who is awaiting these services. She must be feeling the challenges when in school and noticing the differences among her classmates. I acknowledge all of that. It is extremely difficult.

My understanding of the waiting lists strategy is that if the family decide to go private, I assume they will still be on the HSE waiting list unless they actively remove themselves. I stand open to correction on that.

The Minister is committed to building capacity in primary care, as outlined in the programme for Government, by recruiting additional staff numbers and increasing the number of college training places for health and social care professionals, HSCP. She has worked closely with the Minister for higher education, Deputy Lawless. There are approximately 480 additional college training places this year, and the priorities focus on the therapies. It takes a while for them to come through the college system, but every effort is being made to do that. In June 2025, the Government announced a major expansion in HSCP training places, with 461 new places to be delivered up to 2030 across nine priority disciplines. This expansion relates to the creation of 310 additional student places in 2025, with a further 151 to come in subsequent years.

I again thank the Deputy for raising the issue.

Mental Health Services

Deputy Pa Daly

I thank the Ceann Comhairle for giving me the opportunity to raise the issue of the need, or demand, for a suicide crisis assessment nurse. A few years ago, I was speaking to a young man, Stephen McCarthy, who lived about 300 yd from where I live. A woman had seen us speaking, and she asked if she could have a word with him because her son was in school with Stephen.

She said she remembered him as a smart, intelligent boy and that he seemed to have a deep sense of fairness, because life had not been fair to Stephen. His mother was killed at an early age and his father brought him and his two siblings up. Stephen hanged himself the summer before last. He killed himself about 50 yd from where another member of his family killed themselves in the local GAA club. I am not an expert on people taking their own lives but I know we have the fourth-highest rate in Europe for males aged between 15 and 25 and experts say that is underestimated by 20% to 25%. On Friday, a 14-year-old boy will be buried in Tralee. I spoke to his mother and his grandmother last night. Obviously they are devastated. Their lives have been ruined forever. Stephen McCarthy's father said he is scarred for life. Recently I passed all the graves in Rath graveyard in Tralee and the number of people I knew who had taken their own lives was staggering. In County Kerry alone it was 25 people in 2022, 24 in 2023 and 38 in 2024. That is in one county alone. We do not have the statistics yet for 2025 but in those three years there were 87 deaths, which is phenomenal.

There is a scheme, which I have mentioned, for suicide crisis assessment nurses, SCANs. The Minister of State is aware of it. It is in Cork and in Dublin. The HSE states it "aims to provide a timely response to appropriate requests for assessment of patients in suicidal crisis from named GP practices". It goes back to Sláintecare and the right care in the right place at the right time. This would be timely and it is necessary. Having spoken to people in the community mental health service in Kerry, they see the massive demand for it. It is particularly high in the Traveller community. I do not know why. Is it because of social exclusion? Is it discrimination? Is it a low sense of self-esteem? Is it unemployment? Are there other factors? Stephen's brother told me that as a young Traveller he would feel ashamed seeking help. Travellers, according to the experts I spoke to, will not go to the accident and emergency department. They are slow to say it to people within their community. Talking to women, they might find that difficult - there are culturally different experiences for them. However, something needs to be done. I spoke to Elma Walsh from the Donal Walsh #Livelife Foundation. She visits schools all over the country. There is a video the HSE prepared and Donal Walsh did great work just before he died asking people to have the courage to reach out. A HSE video was prepared but because of some battle, I understand with the Department of education, it has never been shown in schools. Elma Walsh is going to Derry this week and was in Dublin last week visiting schools. I am asking the Minister of State to set up this SCAN system in County Kerry to deal with the crisis there.

Deputy Mary Butler

I thank the Deputy for raising this really important issue in relation to suicides in our country. I welcome the opportunity to respond to him because we do not spend enough time speaking about suicide. It goes without saying that even one death by suicide is one too many. I offer my condolences to the family of Stephen McCarthy and the 14-year-old child the Deputy said will be buried this week. It is a really difficult time for their families. One death by suicide has a huge effect on families, the community, neighbours and school and work communities. It is something I have been working very hard on for the past while. We are currently developing a new Connecting for Life strategy with the National Office for Suicide Prevention. I sat down last week with the deputy chief medical officer, Professor Philip Dodd, and went through the first draft. I will launch it next month. We are very close to having it finalised.

Reducing self-harm and suicide is a priority for this Government. That was evident in the way I tailored the budget for this year. An additional investment of over €15 million will fund new initiatives to support those in a mental health crisis. These include new specialist nursing teams working out of hours for all model 4 hospital emergency departments to support the non-consultant hospital doctors, NCHDs. We have nine model 4 hospitals and ten hospitals have been prioritised in total, namely, the nine model 4 hospitals and the Mercy Hospital in Cork, because it had 1,200 presentations last year relating to self-harm and suicidal ideation. Each of those hospitals will receive four nurses. They will be clinical nurse specialists and advanced nurse practitioners who can prescribe. They will work in the emergency department out of hours supporting the NCHDs. This is important because we have really good teams in place in emergency departments but we always have that issue out of hours, which can be very difficult. I will continue to expand the model 3 hospitals in next year’s budget. As a result of not being able to fund the model 3 hospitals in this year's budget - because I have to do it step by step and incrementally - I prioritised three areas for a crisis resolution team and a solace café. One was Donegal, one was the midlands and the other was Kerry. There is recurring funding of €1.3 million that will put in place a crisis resolution team that will work out of hours from Thursday to Monday from approximately 4 p.m. or 5 p.m. until 11 p.m. A crisis resolution team makes an intervention that may not necessarily have to happen in a hospital or clinical setting. They can support the Garda with an incident its members may be called to. It will also provide funding for a solace café. I currently have six of those open around the country. I opened one in Sligo during the summer. There is one open in Galway quite a while, ones opened in Limerick and Galway in only the past couple of weeks, there is one in Dublin and one on Sullivan's Quay in Cork. What these cafés have been shown to do is reduce presentations to emergency departments by 18%. It is clinically led but it is also peer-led and there are people with lived experience. It is an alternative to having to present to the emergency department, which is really important.

I am very familiar with the SCANs and have built the scheme incrementally in all six budgets since coming into my role. I recently visited Donegal where we have the SCAN U scheme. The medics in Donegal did this all on their own. These are SCANs for people aged under 18. In last year's budget I secured the funding to put two SCANs in CAMHS for the first time ever. They are in Portiuncula up on that side of the country because the area had the highest presentations of young Travellers with suicidal ideation and self-harm. We are making a lot of steps but I will speak directly about SCANs when I come back in.

Deputy Pa Daly

I should mention the name of the boy because I have his family's permission. It is Clancylee Casey, who was known as John. He is the boy who is going to be buried. I appreciate the crisis resolution team the Minister of State has put in place in the solace cafés and that there has been an 18% reduction, but the fact remains a lot of people are slow to go to the emergency department. While what she said is welcome, I ask her to review the situation and have a look at putting a SCAN system in place in Kerry. She is correct that we do not spend enough time talking about it and I am not the first and certainly will not be the last to raise the issue but I do so because of the extent of the crisis. Suicidal ideation, in the words of someone on the community mental health team, "cannot wait". I ask the Minister of State to deal with it as a matter of urgency. There is also what they call a black escalation in the emergency department in UHK, so they are under enough pressure. If a SCAN system were put in place, it would take some pressure away from the ED. It is important for us in the House to say there is help there. People need to have, as Donal Walsh said, the courage to go out and seek it. I encourage anybody to look at the HSE video Donal did, which is only five or six minutes long, or the 19-minute interview he did on Brendan O'Connor's show before he died.

The Minister of State mentioned CAMHS. We are still waiting for the report. There are still people excluded from the scheme. I have been saying for three years it is inevitable there will be a wider review of the system. Over €2 million has been spent on it. I am told it is completed. I do not know what is holding it up. We were told it was imminent last July but it still is not there.

I ask the Minister of State to publish it as soon as possible.

Deputy Mary Butler

On the report, I do not have it yet but as soon as I get it, I will publish it.

Deputy Pa Daly

I know that the Minister of State does not have it but I also know that it is complete.

Deputy Mary Butler

Yes, but I do not have it and the Department does not have it either. I want to be clear on that.

To revert to the issue at hand, I want to touch on something I did last September about which I am trying to get the word out as much as possible. In Ireland at the moment, four out of every five suicides are male. It is important to acknowledge that between 2000 and 2021 Ireland saw a 28% reduction in the suicide rate, falling from 12.9 per 100,000 in 2000 to 9.2 per 100,000 in 2021. Currently our figures are at nine per 100,000. I am not playing politics here but am just pointing to facts. I met recently with my counterpart in Northern Ireland and the figures there, believe it or not, are 13.5 per 100,000. We have made progress, for want of a better word, even though one death is one too many. We have seen a reduction in the numbers and the preliminary figures for 2023 are the most positive I have seen to date, notwithstanding the fact that of every five suicides, four are men.

On 1 September last I launched free counselling supports for men across the country. I worked on these supports with the Traveller community in Exchange House in Dublin, the retired veterans association called ONE, the Irish Farmers Association and the College of General Practitioners. When a man who has been on the farm all day or working all day comes home in the evening, he is not going to hop into the shower and then drive into Tralee, Dungarvan or wherever to get counselling supports. He can self-refer to Connect Counselling from 5 p.m. until 9 p.m., seven nights a week. He can simply pick up the phone and have six counselling sessions. When I finish here I will make sure all of the information on this is sent to Deputy Daly.

The most important thing I can say today to any man listening out there is that if, having received counselling supports, he needs to be seen by somebody, that can happen as well. Two thirds of all counselling supports today will be accessed by women. Women are much quicker to sit down, have a cup of coffee or tea and talk to each other. Information is available at yourmentalhealth.ie/men. For the first time ever there are free counselling supports available in this country and the fact that men can access those supports at their own kitchen table is so important. An awful lot of people will not go into a clinical setting for counselling supports. Connect Counselling is providing the supports for us and the take-up is very good. I am doing my best to work within the system. We have run and continue to run ads in the cinemas to make men aware that there are supports out there. I thank Deputy Daly for raising this issue and will send further details on those free counselling supports to him. It would be fantastic if every constituency office would spread the word. I am sorry for going over time.

An Cathaoirleach Gníomhach (Deputy Micheál Carrigy)

That is fine. I did not want to cut in because you were making a very important point. I wish to pass on the condolences of the Ceann Comhairle's office to both of the families mentioned. I thank the Deputy for raising the issue, which is quite personal.

School Accommodation

Deputy Rose Conway-Walsh

I am grateful for the opportunity to raise this issue on behalf of the staff, pupils and the community of St. Brendan's College in Belmullet. I am asking today for urgent interim funding for a nurture room at the school for students with additional and special needs. This funding would allow the school to act now and provide a much-needed facility for the school community rather than having to wait indefinitely for long-promised extension works.

I will outline the recent history of the funding allocated to St. Brendan's College for extension works. These works were approved as far back as 2009 under the additional accommodation scheme and include seven classrooms and two specialist educational units. The project is now at stage 2a and has been sitting with the Department for several months. In reality this approval is eight years old and the school is still waiting for construction to begin. The Minister of State, Deputy Moynihan, is a practical person and I know he will agree that this is absolutely far too long. Pupils who were not even at the school when approval was granted have come out the other end and have not benefited from what was promised then. In the meantime, staff and students continue to work in prefabricated buildings installed in 1991 and 1992. That is over 30 years ago. These prefabs are well beyond their intended lifespan and are no longer fit for purpose. They suffer from water ingress, inadequate heating, ongoing structural deterioration and mould. Despite this, the school was forced to spend €15,000 of its own annual budget this year alone just to keep these units usable for students throughout the winter. This is not a sustainable or acceptable position for any school but particularly for a school that is serving a community with significant disadvantage. St. Brendan's College is a DEIS school in a Gaeltacht area. Over 70% of students come from the primary schools in Erris, a geographically isolated area the size of County Louth. The demand for educational provision and sensory support has grown significantly but the physical infrastructure of the school has not kept pace. The principal, teachers and board of management in St. Brendan's College cannot be praised enough. I know that from my own experience because my own two boys went to that school and received a wonderful education there.

The Department and the ETB have advised the school to wait for the long-promised extension but the reality is that students cannot wait. Right now there are several students in the school who urgently need access to a quiet space or a nurture room to help them to manage their emotions, anxiety and sensory overload. Without such a space, their ability to engage in learning, remain in school and reach their potential is compromised. In response, school management has taken a proactive approach. Rather than waiting indefinitely, it has identified a small portable building that could be placed on the site and converted into a sensory room. This is a modest, practical and cost-effective solution. The school community has already raised almost €8,000, demonstrating strong local commitment and support. However, the community requires a total of €15,000 to make this project viable.

My question is simple but urgent. Are there any funding streams, grants or discretionary supports available that would allow St. Brendan's College to meet the immediate needs of its most vulnerable students while the larger extension project for the school remains delayed? This request is not about replacing the long-awaited extension but about ensuring that children who need support today are not left without it because of processes that move too slowly.

Minister of State at the Department of Education and Youth (Deputy Michael Moynihan)

I thank Deputy Conway-Walsh for raising this issue on behalf of St. Brendan's College in Belmullet. I always appreciate it when a Deputy raises an issue about which he or she has lived experience, in this case, family members in the school in question. I acknowledge the genuine tribute the Deputy has paid to the team in St. Brendan's College, as well as the huge amount of work that is going on across the education system.

The Deputy asks what we can do in this case. We are spending a huge amount of money on special education right across the country. We are trying to make sure that we have the best services available to children with additional needs in both primary and post-primary education. I assure the Deputy that since my appointment over a year ago I have worked extremely hard with the Department and the NCSE to make sure that we are providing the best possible resources across the education system. In all of the decisions that have been taken on additional accommodation or new builds, special education is built in. It is standard practice at this stage to ensure that any investment being made by the Department of education, the State and the taxpayer includes special education provision right across the country so that we bring special education as close as possible to those who need it.

The Deputy put a simple question to me with regard to the nurture room. In many schools that I have visited I have seen imaginative solutions put in place to provide nurture rooms. I absolutely accept that nurture rooms are hugely important for ensuring that children with additional needs have the best possible educational experience. There are some funding mechanisms available to provide additional classrooms in the context of reconfiguring existing spaces. The previous Minister for education, Deputy McEntee, and I had numerous conversations in relation to putting a fund in place and those conversations have continued with the current Minister, Deputy Naughton.

Many schools come to us to say that they or their parents' associations have raised funding. It is something we have looked at very clearly. The Deputy outlined the journey St. Brendan's College has taken in relation to the additional accommodation on the new build and the extension. The Deputy is right: there are an awful lot of students who were in the school when all these plans were put in place and have long since gone into adulthood and are working well outside the system.

I will do two things on foot of this Topical Issue. First, I will go back to the Department to see if there is any mechanism for the immediate request. Second, I am very committed to the need to put a very simple funding stream in place for nurture rooms or quiet spaces. In mainstream education where they may not have a special class or special unit, they have children with additional needs. If there is a quiet space there, it helps the educational environment. We have looked at it. A lot of schools have raised funds for sensory gardens and quiet spaces which are all hugely important pieces of the education system and the best possible experience. I will first go back to see if there is any way we can help with the immediate request. We will try to find a route for schools in the future for a funding stream for nurture rooms or quiet spaces which would benefit the education system hugely.

Deputy Rose Conway-Walsh

I appreciate that. I know the Minister of State is genuine when he says he will do that with St. Brendan's College because doing so would send a clear message that while we plan for the future, we do not abandon the students in the present. I look forward to some movement on that issue. This is a very small investment in terms of the interim measure which would have a profound impact on the students who need that space. This is about fairness, urgency and care and about ensuring children who need support are not left behind while waiting for buildings that may still be years away. After nine years with the Department, one can imagine, even from a public expenditure point of view, how much the Exchequer would have saved if that was done when it was planned and approved, never mind all the benefits for the children who would have benefited in the meantime from having the additional space and the additional rooms which are desperately needed. We are fortunate that there is demand for that school and the numbers are increasing. We see in many rural schools that the numbers are decreasing. It speaks to the excellence of the teachers and management in that school. I have to praise the other two secondary schools in Erris as well which do excellent work. One of the key advantages of living in that area is the education provided. I ask the Minister of State to go back to the Department to say that nine years is too long and that it needs to get moving on this project, get the main project done and in the meantime provide a small bit of money that will make a huge and profound difference to the work the teachers and students are doing there. On behalf of the students, the teachers and the principal, I thank the Minister of State for his response.

Deputy Michael Moynihan

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. 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.

School Admissions

Deputy Paula Butterly

I raise an issue on behalf of one of my constituents who is quite literally pulling out her hair because she has no idea where or if she will place her child in a special school next September. We know that parents of children with special needs face many challenges and one of them is the assessments. Through no fault of her own, last October she knew she was going to miss the deadline because her child has been on a waiting list for an assessment. She made clear to the NCSE that this was going to be the case but only last week she received notice that there is no place for her child in September 2026. As one can imagine, this has caused untold anxiety because she cannot wait and her child cannot wait for a year, staying at home or wondering where to place the child. The Minister of State knows how essential early intervention is to a child's progression and development. Children cannot afford to stay at home and stay still for a year without knowing. I would like to think this is just one exceptional case but unfortunately there has been a further case in my constituency. I believe this is going to be the case across the island. My ask is quite simple: can the portal be reopened temporarily to allow for these assessments to be put through, if available? We know that the waiting lists for assessments are to the detriment of the children, the parents and the family members in the communities. Can the portal be reopened? If not, can we give instructions to the NCSE to work on a case-by-case basis to find a suitable place for these children in September 2026?

Deputy Michael Moynihan

I thank the Deputy for the genuineness of the question. Without filling it out, she has gone directly to 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. 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 a 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. 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.

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.

Deputy Paula Butterly

I truly thank the Minister of State for the reply and look forward to a proactive approach from the NCSE and local SENOs to finding a solution to those individual cases. As the Minister of State said, anxiety is being caused to families by so many issues. If we can alleviate it and make sure these children, who are very special, have the right structures in place, are not delayed any further and get their places in September, that will be a huge achievement for the child and the family.

On Monday, I visited St. Ita's Special School in Drogheda, which has been in existence for over 60 years. I looked at the design for the new build it will share with St. Mary's. It is truly extraordinary but it struck me that before the build is complete, it will already be at capacity, which shows the extraordinary need that exists. I acknowledge all the work being done in the Minister of State's Department to get more resources and places on line. It goes to show we cannot keep up with the need and demand that is there.

When I spoke to Miceál, the principal of St. Ita's, he made another point. He said that while everybody accepts the portal and the process being followed in order to meet demand, every time a child applies for a place in St. Ita's, the parents and child are invited into the school months before they are supposed to start. The piece of paper will say one thing - it may be an indication of the need for a special school or additional supports - but nothing will replace the knowledge and experience of a teacher or principal. We have to find a way to maintain the collaboration of the principals and teachers who are involved in this process. We need to get it right first time and make sure that when a child goes to a new school, it is the right fit. There is nothing more disturbing for a child than being in a place they do not belong.

Deputy Michael Moynihan

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.

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. 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. They have not been given to us yet but we will work to make the system better. I thank the Deputy for her interest.

Dáil Éireann debate - Wednesday, 21 Jan 2026