Saincheisteanna Tráthúla - Topical Issue Debate – Dáil Éireann (34th Dáil) – Wednesday, 17 Jun 2026

Saincheisteanna Tráthúla - Topical Issue Debate

Medicinal Products

Deputy Barry Ward

I acknowledge that the Minister is here in person. It does not always happen for Topical Issues but I am grateful for the fact that she is here. It is probably a reflection of the fact that she is getting the same emails I am getting from people in our constituency who are affected by Duchenne muscular dystrophy.

I am sure the Minister already knows about it but Duchenne muscular dystrophy is a condition that affects muscular restoration and muscular development, mostly in boys although not exclusively. It occurs from about the age of four. It is a degenerative condition. Over time, it restricts the ability of those boys to do things that all our children take for granted, simple things, whether that is getting up after a fall, getting up out of a chair, getting in and out of a car or climbing stairs. Over time, that gets worse and worse until eventually they cannot stand independently or cannot stand up at all. Unfortunately, the nature of this condition is that as it gets worse and worse, boys who suffer from it will often not be able to walk by the age of 12. This is, therefore, a heartbreaking condition for parents as they watch their young children unable to do the things their peers are able to do. That degenerative nature of the disease must be extraordinarily difficult for them. It is a rare disease. I know there are different assessments as to how common it is. Ultimately, it does not affect a huge number of people but those people whom it does affect are deeply affected by it, not only the families and the extended families but also, obviously, the people who suffer from it themselves.

The Minister is aware that families were in here last week, a year after they first brought this to our attention, to have a meeting to inform many of the Members of this House about the situation in relation to Duchenne muscular dystrophy and the treatments that are available. Many Members will have attended that briefing in the audiovisual room. The families referred specifically to givinostat, a drug that is available for the treatment of the condition. Givinostat is really important because it is a turning point in the treatment of Duchenne muscular dystrophy. It cancels out some of the enzymes that prevent muscular development and muscular restoration. The muscles of young boys who suffer from Duchenne's are generally wasting away; they cannot restore themselves. Now there is a drug that is available and has been approved, for example, in the United States and provisionally in the European Union and that can treat that specific cause and deal with the enzyme that prevents the muscles from regenerating and being restored. It acts as a pause or a stop on the progress of the disease.

There are a couple of difficulties with it, however. The first is that it is not something that can be taken at any stage in a sufferer with Duchenne's. There are boys who are no longer eligible to take givinostat because of the delays in getting the drug approved in this jurisdiction. There are other boys who are approaching the point at which they will not be able to take it. Time is therefore of the essence in this matter. As one parent who wrote to me said, time is muscle when it comes to Duchenne's. Again, I am sure the Minister is familiar with these issues.

Those parents who have children who suffer from Duchenne's are therefore incredibly anxious that this drug will progress. I know that was a meeting - last week, I think - of the senior management team or that this is progressing through the Minister's Department. What I would really like her to tell us, though, is the progress in relation to givinostat; whether the families can expect that this drug will be available not only to them but on the same terms that it is available in other parts of the island - for example, in Northern Ireland; and if she can tell parents, conscious that time is muscle and conscious that there are kids who need this drug urgently, if this will progress in such a way that it will be available to them in the short term, or when it will be available to them. This heartbreaking disease can be stopped in its tracks for some patients, and we should be doing everything we can to ensure that happens.

Minister for Health (Deputy Jennifer Carroll MacNeill)

I thank Deputy Ward for raising this issue. This is something I have been working on with families for over a year now, since this drug was approved by the European Medicines Agency. I have met many of those families. I met them when they were here last week, before they had their audiovisual room briefing, I have met them four, five or six times online and I met them past year in person - I have met them so many different times. Together, we have been working to try to get this drug approved within the Irish system.

As the Deputy will be aware, when a drug is approved at a European Medicines Agency level, it does not necessarily mean that it will be available in Ireland. Why? It is because it is necessary for the drugs company to make an application to have the drug available in Ireland. It is not as though Ireland simply gets it as a matter of course. The HSE needs an application to be made. The drug company has to choose to want to sell it here. We have been trying to encourage Italco Pharma for some time to make the appropriate application.

The drug was approved in June of last year. I immediately met families in relation to the next steps. We did not get an application from the maker of givinostat for some time, so we all engaged in a lobbying campaign in different ways. I met the Italian health minister, Mr. Schillaci, in Luxembourg to encourage him to ask the company to make an application in Ireland. I made the same ask of him again at a later stage, in November, in South Africa, at the G20 meeting. The Taoiseach has been involved in this, asking Prime Minister Meloni to get involved to ask the Italian pharmaceutical company to make the appropriate, complete application here in order that the HSE could respond. I was on my summer holidays in August of last year waiting to see every day with the HSE whether the application had been made. Eventually, on 6 August, the health technology assessment, HTA, application was first made. I thank Michael Barry and the people in the HSE for the speed with which they processed that part of the application, which was exceptionally quick. The National Centre for Pharmacoeconomics did a rapid review. The application was made on 6 August, the rapid review was completed on 14 August and a full HTA commissioned on 26 August. That is unprecedentedly fast, and I am very grateful to the HSE for its speed, reflecting the seriousness of this.

On 30 September the HSE met with Italco Pharma to assess the HTA process. The assessment of the pricing and reimbursement application could not proceed until the full HTA was received from the Italian company.

That was eventually received on 15 January 2026. We were updating the families at every stage, discussing and giving them full information and transparency as to what was happening. I am grateful to the HSE for concluding the assessment on 3 March, which was a matter of 26 days or so. That was very fast. The HSE's corporate pharmaceutical element, which is the interface between the HSE and the pharmaceutical industry, held a meeting with Italfarmaco on 27 March 2026. A commercial offer was received from Italfarmaco on 8 May 2026. Again, we were waiting for these applications to be made.

The HSE drugs group continued that application at a meeting one month later on 9 June. When we bring together all of the different experts, it is not something that is stood up quickly. We have to review the documentation and have the scientific experts there. The drugs group supported the reimbursement of givinostat. Yesterday, the senior leadership team in the HSE supported that application and the drug will now proceed through a managed access protocol.

We have discussed in detail with the families how a managed access protocol works. It is a matter of clinical decision making as to who gets the drug. Of course, as the Deputy has referenced, not every boy is suitable for it. The question of being ambulatory, being able to stand and all of those things are not decisions for the Deputy and I but are decisions for clinicians. We want to make that drug as broadly available as possible but, ultimately, it is a clinical decision as to who should get the drug and who should not. I am so thankful to the HSE and thankful to the families for their constant engagement with me in relation to this, not just in our constituency, but around the country.

Deputy Barry Ward

I thank the Minister. I join with her in thanking the HSE for the work that has been done and also acknowledge her commitment to this. Anybody who has dealt with families who are suffering with this disease understands both the heartbreaking nature of it and the urgency involved.

Listening to what the Minister has said in relation to the progress and the managed access protocol, do we have a timeline for when it will be available? I accept entirely what the Minister has said about the clinical criteria for the application of the drug. That is entirely appropriate and, unfortunately, there will be boys, because of the delay in the application outside our control, who may not be eligible to receive the drug now.

For those who are still eligible and those who can still stand up independently or who can stand up, can we give them a timeline for when they might be assessed for that and the conditions under which it will be made available to them? I am conscious of the fact that time is muscle and the fact that this drug is the very best way available to sufferers of Duchenne muscular dystrophy to stop the progress of this disease and to stop the degeneration of their muscles, which is irreversible. For the families the Minister has been dealing with and I have been dealing with, can we give them a particular timeline for when they can hope to be clinically assessed, if that still has to happen, but more importantly to have access to this drug in the same way it is available, for example, to our cousins in the North of Ireland under the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence, NICE, protocols? Will the drug be available under the same conditions as it is available in the UK under the NHS?

Deputy Jennifer Carroll MacNeill

It was Úna Ennis who coined the phrase "time is muscle". I am grateful to her for her engagement and advocacy all the way through. The first thing is that we are trying to get the drug physically into the country. My officials have been working on that for some time in anticipation of what we hoped would be a positive response. Of course, it is not just a decision whether to give the drug or not. It is also a decision about whether the drug is effective and for whom it is effective. It is a complicated balance and we must always defer to the scientists on these decisions as well, recognising that Ireland remains a country that believes in science.

We are trying to get the drug physically into the country. This is a high-tech drug and not one that is put on the back of a van and sent to a pharmacy. Due to the way in which it is given, we are trying to work out whether this is something we can do more quickly in acute settings and how we can most quickly get this drug to the boys who need it so badly. Our broad approach is one of trying to give maximum access to it but I will defer to clinicians on who the appropriate people are to get it.

Yesterday, I was meeting with the European health ministers. We had a working lunch specifically on medicines and the challenge of most favoured nation, MFN, access to medicines. We have been trying to work in different ways on two things. As a small country Ireland, like the Benelux countries, Croatia and other small countries, has a difficulty with access to drugs. If we look at drug companies making applications, they are making it to the likes of France, Germany and other huge markets. We are just not in the same space. We do not have the same visibility. We are trying to partner with other countries to create a bigger market so we can be more attractive and also so we can negotiate on more attractive terms.

I feel that the only group with all of the information are the drug companies and that the member states are working somewhat against each other in terms of each of them making individual negotiations because of the way the European treaty is structured and health being a national competence. It is something we need to reflect on. I am working with other European health ministers to find a way to streamline the way the HTA process works, reduce some of the national country administrative burden, make Europe a more powerful block, and rebalance that balance of power, crucially so that patients get access and so the Irish State can spend as much money as possible in getting as many drugs as possible for the broadest range of people. That will not always result in positive decisions by the HSE. I need to say that loudly. We have had difficult days on that, too, but we are desperately trying to take the right approach in every way.

Special Educational Needs

Deputy Ruairí Ó Murchú

I thank the Minister for taking this. When we talk about finding an appropriate place for children, particularly those with special needs and challenging needs, it is a constant battle for those parents. It is a constant battle even at times for elected representatives who are contacted in relation to this, whether it is contacting the special educational needs organiser, SENO, contacting schools individually or even in instances when we have to bring it to the floor of Leinster House.

Obviously, I have made the Minister of State aware of some of these cases and if we are lucky enough to meet afterwards and deal with this, unfortunately, there will be more names I have to add to that list. I will use these as examples. Again, we are not only talking about children going from primary into secondary school where the roadmap should be a lot clearer and straightforward on the basis that they are not coming from Mars. They are already in the system.

We also suffer from the circumstance where a child is probably put in an inappropriate place and that may fall apart, and then they are left with no school place whatsoever. We are talking about cases where the educational welfare officer, EWO, is checking why the child is not at school and realises there is an issue. There is then no pressure on the parent from the point of view that the child is not at school, yet there is no solution. That is not taking away from the work done by SENOs and EWOs, but we need a far better system to actually deliver.

I am going to use a couple of examples. One is an eight-year-old named Hollybelle from Dundalk who has Down syndrome and an autism diagnosis. At this point in time, she has mobility issues and is non-verbal, so I am not taking away from the complexity of the case. She was given a special class within a school. That fell apart and now, months on, she does not have a place, unfortunately. There has been a huge number of representations made by her mother over and back, particularly with the National Council For Special Education, NCSE, which I have contacted also. However, we are not in a place that we have a solution.

Another example is Tristan, who is a 12-year-old from Dundalk. The recommendation is for a special school or special class catering to autism spectrum disorder, ASD. I could talk about the multiple representations this mother has made to special schools and to schools with units and, in fairness, others and I have been in contact with all the services and there have been parliamentary questions placed. In some cases, it is schools that have not necessarily had their requisite ASD places or classes commissioned. Nonetheless, the Minister of State can imagine the pressure that these parents are under.

I am dealing with a young boy of 12 years old from Dundalk who is on the autism spectrum and there is no place whatsoever. His father has been in and out of my office and is under severe pressure.

There is another man with an 11-year-old boy. The school place he had previously then fell apart and at this point in time the child has been languishing at home.

There are sometimes issues that need to be dealt with around transport and whatever. I accept that-----

An Cathaoirleach Gníomhach (Deputy Aindrias Moynihan)

I thank the Deputy. He will have a further two minutes.

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

I thank Deputy Ó Murchú for raising this question regarding County Louth. I will first give him an overview of where we are and then address the specifics, if that is okay.

We are extremely committed to the provision of additional places for children with exceptional educational needs. The number of special classes provided across the country has doubled over the last few years. In addition, 16 new special schools have been established in recent years. School capacity has also been expanded across a number of schools nationwide. Four of these special schools are in County Louth, educating approximately 450 students with complex educational needs. These schools are supported by the Department of education and the National Council for Special Education, NCSE.

As the Deputy will be aware, an earlier notification deadline was introduced last year to support forward planning. This also meant that the NCSE was equipped earlier with local information as to what students would be leaving school, transitioning to post-primary specialised places or seeking specialised places and entering the education system for the first time. This information is crucial when examining where places must be provided to meet demand.

The NCSE started sanctioning special classes for the 2026-27 school year in January, several months earlier than the previous year. To date, 565 new special classes have been sanctioned by the NCSE for the 2026-27 school year. By way of information, between September 2025 and September 2026, close to 1,000 extra special classes will have been sanctioned and opened across the country. The vast majority of these new special classes are for children with autism. The new special class sanctions mean there will be over 4,300 special classes operating in mainstream schools across the country in the next school year, up from 1,836 in 2020. The earlier notification has given us insight into the need. The Department has worked extremely well with the NCSE and with school communities across the country to open extra classes at both primary and post-primary levels.

On the issues the Deputy has raised regarding education, we have those who are entering primary school for the first time and those who are transitioning from primary to post-primary school. These are the pinch points or challenges we face. We are acutely aware of the breakdown of places. We are working extremely well with the new teams within the NCSE across all counties to make sure we are meeting the needs of children with additional educational requirements.

The Deputy mentioned a number of children. While it would not be appropriate for me to discuss these cases on the floor of the Dáil, the Deputy shared the details with me yesterday evening and I will certainly take these matters up and respond to him offline. I fully understand. One of my motivations in my role is that, a few short years ago, I met a parent at a school gate whose child was finishing primary school in June of that particular school year. This parent did not know where that child would go to post-primary school that September. That has really guided me in making sure we have appropriate places. On being appointed, I looked at moving the date to earlier in the year so that we would have earlier sight of educational requirements. We are working to ensure that again next year. It is proper to engage in forward planning to make sure we have sight of the need.

Deputy Ruairí Ó Murchú

We all welcome the attempts to streamline the system. The problem is that too many children are still falling between stools. I am not taking away from the particular issues but I spoke about Hollybelle. One of the schools she applied to was a special school that she did not qualify for. Her intellectual disability was seen as too severe. As much as we have an insufficient number of places for those who have autism - I accept that there have been increases, which is necessary - there are also a number of children who fall into the bracket of intellectual disability who have no place to go. We really need to look at this across the board and come up with a comprehensive solution. The Minister of State can imagine the absolute disaster this is for families and the pressure they are under. I spoke to Tristan's mother. I believe she will be here later to protest because she is at the end of her tether and does not know where to go.

I welcome the fact that we will continue this conversation offline. I did not expect to hear the solutions in here today. However, we need to get them.

On a point of information, when we talk about situations breaking down, a mother wrote to me about her son Matthew, who is going to secondary school in September. She could not get him a place in an ASD class, so he has to go into a mainstream class. The problem is that the SNA co-ordinator has told her that they cannot promise him SNA access as there are only six SNAs available between first year and sixth year. She has detailed Matthew's issues to me. We are going to have cases like that across the board. We need to find a way to deliver. I will follow up with the Minister of State afterwards.

Deputy Michael Moynihan

There are a number of issues to discuss. The Deputy mentioned a case. I do not want to go into the specifics on the floor of the Dáil but that is one of the pieces we are concerned about. We are concerned about meeting profound levels of need within an appropriate school. We are doing a number of things. We have sight of the need earlier in the school year. We will continue with that programme over the next while. We are also gathering information from other Departments, including information from the access and inclusion model and the domiciliary care section, to make sure that we have full sight of this need, particularly at primary level. In addition, during the school year, school placements may not work out for a whole variety of reasons. We really need to work on that. While primary schools right across the country have done a huge amount of work with regard to additional special classes and working through the system, we have more work to do with regard to post-primary schools. Students will be going from primary school to post-primary school. We will be looking very carefully at that issue over the next while. We are also looking at where placements break down and the supports we can provide through the NCSE, the SENOs and team leaders right across the country.

The Deputy asked about County Louth. We are investing in special schools and special classes right across County Louth. Of course, we are supporting students in mainstream education as well. I assure the Deputy of that. It is extremely important. I know and understand the pressures families are under, particularly as we are now galloping towards the end of the school year with a new one on the horizon. Families need certainty on that. I will follow up on the queries the Deputy has shared with me and report back to him.

Special Educational Needs

Deputy Darren O'Rourke

The level of support provided by the summer programme and its recognised benefits are very clear. It is recognised by school communities, parents and children themselves. There is increasing demand for the programme and, in recent years, an increased number of places have been provided. However, very real problems have been identified this year. Something different is happening in the administration of the scheme this year. In some cases, this means that children who were intended to benefit from the programme now will not.

I have my suspicions about what is going on here. We all hear about the budgetary challenges in the Department. I believe they are at play here.

We raised the issue of the very narrow application window, which the Department revisited, and that was welcome. I am hearing this from school communities and parents across the length the breadth of Ireland. A thread running through all of the complaints is that an entirely different approach is being taken now by the Department regarding SNA allocation.

I have specific examples. In County Offaly, a school does tremendous work in special education and has an above-circular allocation in recognition of the complex needs in the school. It has nine SNAs but has been told it will have six for the summer programme. In Trim, a school with a tremendous track record in special education has 18 SNAs but has been told it has 12 for the summer programme. This means that children with additional and complex needs will be locked out of the scheme. There is another case in a DEIS school in County Cavan. It wants to roll out a literacy and numeracy camp but will have to exclude children with additional needs because of the lack of SNA allocation. This is one very important issue that I want addressed by the Minister of State.

The other is the home-based programme. There is an absolute delay in sanctioning this to the extent that children, particularly secondary school children but also some in primary, might not get the opportunity at all. We know that in previous years the sanction happened way earlier. We are now running towards the end of June, and this has not been sanctioned. Schools that applied earlier in the year were told that it would be late May or early June before they would get the sanction letters but they are now told it will be the end of June. In some cases, tutors, teachers and SNAs are only available in the month of June. Their own children are at primary school and they are working in secondary schools, so they have the flexibility in the month of June that they do not have in July and August. These children are going to miss out on the summer programme as a result of these delays. What is going on? Can the Minister of State urgently address those deficiencies?

Deputy Michael Moynihan

I thank the Deputy for the question. Like the Deputy, we recognise the importance of the summer programme as a vital piece in the education system. It is vital for children at primary and post-primary school. It is specifically designed for children with complex educational needs or those at risk of educational disadvantage. While it is delivered during the summer months, it is an educational programme and it is important that it is viewed as educational rather than as recreation in summer camps.

Since 2021, the Department of Education and Youth’s inspectorate has evaluated the programme annually. The findings consistently highlight the programme’s positive impact on the many children and young people who have taken part, with parents, staff and the children themselves reporting improvements in confidence, attitude and readiness to return to school in September. The original intention and continued emphasis of the summer programme is to mitigate the impact of learning loss on those children while schools are closed. An increase in special educational needs prevalence rates, particularly of autism, and the presentation of children with more complex needs, has meant that the summer programme is more important than ever.

Details of the summer programme were communicated to schools and stakeholders in early May. While it is acknowledged that the details of the programme are typically announced earlier, the Department has continually kept in touch with stakeholders who are querying when the summer programme might be announced. This ensured that schools understood it would be forthcoming and that they should start their preparations. As a result, the online application portals for both the school-based and the home-based programmes were opened from 6 May to 15 May. Both the Minister, Deputy Naughton, and I were aware of the deadline, and the application portals were reopened again from 2 to 5 June. Details of this reopening were announced in May.

The summer programme has been well established for several years, so even though there was a shorter window for applications, schools were prepared in advance. The Department subsequently received more applications for the school-based scheme this year than in 2025, with increases across primary, post-primary and special schools. In addition, the number of home-based applications has significantly increased on last year. The Department has been engaging with schools on an individual basis in relation to the running of their summer programme. Schools have now received their sanction letters with their staffing allocation. This allocation is based on the number of children who are taking part in accordance with the published terms and conditions of the programme.

In instances where schools believe they require additional supports, they can engage, and many are engaging, with the Department to outline the unique circumstances that require additional resources. I know the Department has been working with schools on an individual basis to ensure they can meet the needs of all the children taking part. Equally, it is acknowledged that there are some children with complex special educational needs whose school is not running a school-based programme or that a place on the school-based programme is not available. In this instance, these children can avail of the home-based provision.

The Department is working hard to ensure it is communicating with families as a matter of urgency. As the Deputy rightly pointed out, we are in the second half of June, and we need to get certainty to all communities. Many schools have been liaising with us in the past week or ten days in particular, and the Department has been engaging with them. Where a need is demonstrated, additional staffing is being made available. This will continue to work until the summer programme is up and running. We are very serious about making sure that the summer programme works this year and into the future.

Deputy Darren O'Rourke

I would be interested to know the numbers. I recognise they have been increasing year on year. My understanding from replies to parliamentary question that I have received from the Department is that the budget has increased but it has not increased in the past two years and has been static. I know there were 1,800 schools and 71,000 children last year. How many schools and children are there this year? Will the Minister of State indicate whether more schools will participate this year and whether more children will be accommodated?

I know many schools are engaging in the appeals process. I implore the Minister of State to ensure timely responses. I am dealing with a number of schools that have appealed. They engaged in good faith and outlined their particular circumstances but it is more than ten working days later and they have had no response from the Department. That has to change.

When will the sanction letters for the home-based programme be issued to give people a clear indication that they can go about making arrangements?

Deputy Michael Moynihan

There has been an increase in the number of schools. More applications were received for school-based programmes this year than in 2025, with an increase across the primary, post-primary and special schools. In addition, there has been an increase in home-based applications, which significantly increased last year. We are working across the system to ensure we are delivering decisions and appeals. Further information has been sent in by school authorities to the Department in recent days, and that is being worked on in a timely manner. Certainty is being issued to schools, and we understand the need for that.

There has been an increase. This shows the value that the families and school communities put on the summer programme. I am pleased to see that more primary, post-primary and special schools are engaging in the programme. That is what we want. We want to make sure the programme is open to all. In the past few years, there has been an increase of 210% in child participation. That is welcome. It is what it is all about. It is to ensure that children who require further education, those with additional educational needs and children from disadvantaged backgrounds have the opportunity of the summer programme.

This programme was devised many years ago and it has been successful and has been running across the schools. We understand the value of it. The engagement between the Department and the school authorities is ongoing. A lot of documentation was issued over the last day or so in terms of staffing and that will continue. On the home-based tuition, or the home-based programme, we are working to bring clarity to families because I know families need certainty at this point in the year.

School Accommodation

Deputy Robert O'Donoghue

I want to highlight a deeply concerning situation facing Balscadden National School in my constituency in Dublin Fingal West. The school is simply asking for appropriate educational provision for children with additional needs. It has been informed by the Department that it will only provide a single special educational needs, SEN, classroom through a modular build. This decision appears to be based on the assertion that a two-classroom unit would require planning permission and would delay the project. However, the information available to the school raises serious questions about this justification. A report has suggested that a septic tank would need to be relocated to accommodate the two-classroom unit. The school disputes this and believes that the tank does not need to be moved. Furthermore, if planning permission is required, the additional timeframe is estimated at about 12 weeks. When we consider that the most optimistic opening date would be spring 2027, and that September 2027 would be a more realistic target in either scenario, it is difficult to understand why a long-term educational need is being sacrificed for a relatively short administrative delay. The reality is that the single SEN classroom would be filled immediately. Once it reaches capacity there would be no further places available until pupils reach sixth class. So what happens to the children who are coming in for 2028, 2029 and beyond? Are the families expected to wait years for appropriate provision? Are children expected to travel long distances because sufficient capacity was not provided from the outset?

There are also significant concerns about the quality of provision being proposed. A singular modular unit comes with fewer facilities for children who will use it. In addition, the Department proposes providing only 50 sq. m of soft play space. The school believes this is wholly inadequate to facilitate meaningful reverse integration and inclusive educational opportunities. The Education Act makes clear that every child is entitled to the most inclusive education possible. Inclusion cannot simply be spoken about; it must be properly resourced and designed into our schools. A restricted space of 50 sq. m does not allow the level of interaction and integration that children deserve.

Finally, the school community has been informed that its playground will be disrupted and effectively removed during construction. It is entirely reasonable that playground damage or loss as part of this project should be fully reinstated when the works are complete. I call on the Minister of State and the Department to urgently review this proposal, engage constructively with the school, provide a two-classroom SEN unit that meets future demand, ensure adequate outdoor space for inclusive education and guarantee the full replacement of the playground following construction. Our children deserve planning that looks beyond next year and provides for the future needs of Balscadden National School.

Deputy Michael Moynihan

I thank the Deputy. I appreciate the question and thank him for his ongoing engagement on matters of education, not just in the House but also his own engagement in it. It is important that we do so.

I want to go to the school the Deputy raised. I assure the Deputy that the Government is fully committed to supporting students with special educational needs to fulfil their full potential. The programme for Government makes a number of commitments to deliver on this important objective.

I can assure the Deputy that the Department has been working closely with the school authorities in relation to the school's accommodation requirement and will continue to do so. The Department of education appointed a project manager who visited the school to examine the feasibility of providing two special educational needs modular classrooms at the school's preferred location on the school site. The Department was advised that due to a site-specific technical constraint only one unit could be accommodated at the school's preferred location. However, I commend the school's strong preference for proceeding with two special educational needs classrooms, and the project manager is now undertaking a revised viability assessment report, including examining the possibility of relocating the modular accommodation to an alternative location on the school site. The Department of education will endeavour to assist in facilitating this option. Once the process has been completed, officials from the Department of education will be in contact with the school authorities.

The Deputy will appreciate that the Department is required to utilise the funding available to it to ensure that every child has access to a school place, and indeed there is a large demand for school places and class provision in the Balbriggan school planning area. I assure the Deputy that the Department is fully committed to the optimum special education needs accommodation solution at the school and will continue to engage with the school in this regard.

It is important to note the project manager has been appointed and has gone out there. I could not but strongly commend the school authorities for wanting to go ahead with the two special classes. That is not universal but perhaps the Deputy might convey to the school authorities that we do appreciate that they are looking to the future as well. One of the things we have to bear in mind as a Department and a Government is the large demand for special education class provision in the Balbriggan school planning area. That is one thing we have to be very cognisant of as we move forward. I will give a commitment that we will work very closely with the school authorities to ensure we find the best possible solution there and to ensure engagement with the school authorities on it.

By way of information, the Deputy will be aware that the NCSE is the statutory body for the provision of special education and allocating supports for children with additional needs. The Department is guided by the NCSE in relation to requirements for special classes in the first instance. In order to respond to the urgent need for special educational needs class provision identified by the NCSE, my Department is progressing urgent building projects that involve providing modular accommodation for SEN class provision. This delivery method and modern methods of construction offer an extremely high-quality carbon-friendly building combined with fast delivery. In overall terms, it is important to have a range of delivery mechanisms for delivering school accommodation to support the very strong and ambitious roll-out of school building projects across the country.

I assure the Deputy that the Department will be working very closely with the project manager and the school authorities in order to progress the delivery of special education class accommodation as quickly as possible. My officials will engage directly with the school again on the next steps for delivery of this accommodation.

Deputy Robert O'Donoghue

I thank the Minister of State. I will convey this to the school principal, Mr. White. While seeking the two SEN classrooms is probably not as common as it should be, it is good to hear that the Department is working closely with the school. I feel that myself and my Dublin Fingal West colleagues are like a broken record at this point. It is the fastest-growing local authority area in Ireland. I am glad to see that facilities like this are being taken seriously, as is coming forward from the Department. From my own point of view, I am asking the Minister of State to continue that engagement with the principal, Mr. White, and the school community on this issue. It will certainly be used in the coming years and without a doubt it will future-proof one area of the north county. The school community is willing to provide the Minister of State with any solutions or any further input he might need that will work to find what we perceive as a better solution than that originally put forward. Engaging with them can bring a better conclusion. That is the outcome we are all looking for. I thank the Minister of State.

Deputy Michael Moynihan

In all school projects when the Department engages, the Department is one side of it, the planning and building unit is one side of it, and there is the NCSE, which has sight of the numbers that are notified on a yearly basis. The most important ingredient as well is the school authorities and we have to bring them with us.

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

Industrial Development

Deputy Joe Cooney

Ireland is at a crossroads. Dublin is bursting at the seams, housing is scarce, costs are out of control, infrastructure cannot cope and commuters spend hours of their lives on packed roads every day but two hours west of this Chamber, we have an asset of great national potential, Shannon and the wider region. Developing Shannon as Ireland's second economic engine is not just good for County Clare, it is essential policy for Ireland. With excellent road and rail connections and port access at Foynes, Shannon has the freight and logistics capacity that any foreign direct investment team would find compelling. Shannon Airport is the only airport outside Dublin that can handle long-haul flights. It is critical national infrastructure that needs to be used more. The Shannon Airport Business Park is the largest outside Dublin with hundreds of companies employing thousands of people across a range of businesses. It has 130 acres of land available for new development, doubling the park's current capacity and driving the economy of the entire region.

What Shannon offers that Dublin cannot is space, which is vital. Physical space for companies, space in the housing market for workers who can afford homes within reach of their workplaces, and space in the planning system to move with ambition and speed. There are 9,000 students graduating every year from the University of Limerick, UL, and the Technological University of the Shannon, TUS. Shannon itself is home to the Shannon College of Hotel Management.

Pharma, medtech, ICT, financial services, aviation, agrifood, and green energy sectors all have a natural home in the Shannon region. The Roche site in Clarecastle is a prime example of the region's industrial capacity. It is a flagship location that is perfectly placed to attract the next generation of global life sciences and clean-tech investment directly into County Clare. With Ireland's offshore wind potential off the Atlantic coast, Shannon is ideally placed to be the industrial hub for new energy-intensive and net-zero industries. The national planning framework commits to regional balance in principle. Successive Governments have promised balanced regional development but promising it and actively delivering it are two very different things. What steps is the Minister taking to back up those promises?

Minister for Enterprise, Tourism and Employment (Deputy Peter Burke)

I thank Deputy Cooney for raising this very important Topical Issue on the mid-west region, Shannon Airport and County Clare. The mid-west region is uniquely positioned to drive balanced regional development, with assets including Shannon Airport, Foynes Port, excellent road and rail connectivity and a highly skilled workforce. There are strong links to leading education institutions. The region has all the fundamentals required to support sustained industrial growth and job creation. Government policy is fully aligned with unlocking this potential. Through the White Paper on Enterprise 2022-2030 and our regional development agenda, we are focused on ensuring every region, including the mid-west region, can realise its full economic and employment potential.

My Department contributes to this agenda through the work of IDA lreland, Enterprise Ireland, the local enterprise offices, LEOs, and nine regional enterprise plans, REPs. The REPs have proven effective in fostering regional collaboration, bringing together key stakeholders to identify challenges and opportunities and to take action in areas such as cluster development, manufacturing and knowledge economy.

Since 2017 my Department, through Enterprise Ireland, has made available over €150 million in regional enterprise development funding. Looking ahead, Enterprise 2035, as set out in the programme for Government, will build on this progress. It will support long-term enterprise growth and job creation, focusing on key enablers such as skills, infrastructure, digital connectivity, access to finance and sustainability.

The LEOs play a vital role at grassroots level, supporting job creation in small businesses across the region, providing targeted grants for scaling and exporting firms, including support for specialist hires, and driving digital, green and lean transformation across sectors. Enterprise Ireland also supports over 700 client companies across the mid-west region, with employment growing in 2025 to almost 27,000. This growth is driven by strong performance in key sectors like medtech and healthcare, as referenced by Deputy Cooney. We are seeing this in major announcements, including Aerogen, lreland's largest indigenous medtech company, announcing this year the creation of 725 jobs between its two manufacturing sites in Shannon and Galway and Vitalograph's expansion in Clare and Limerick which will see it take on an extra 200 employees.

In May 2025, Enterprise Ireland announced the high potential start-up, HPSU, class of 2024 in which €27.6 million was invested in Irish start-ups, supporting over 157 start-ups in 2024 through HPSU or pre-seed funding, of which six were in the mid-west. The region is already delivering strong results. There are 158 IDA client companies in the mid-west region employing 28,125 people, with employment among IDA clients increasing by 18% in recent years. Key sectors include technology, life sciences, international financial services and engineering.

The strategic location, excellent connectivity through Shannon Airport, and a skilled workforce supported by the UL and TUS make the mid-west region an attractive environment for multinational corporations. Some of the major FDI companies have expanded their operations here, citing access to talent, quality infrastructure, and Government support through IDA Ireland as key factors. Adjoining Shannon International Airport, Shannon Free Zone remains a cornerstone of international investment, hosting one of the largest clusters of North American investment in the State, with continued growth in traded services and technology investment also accelerating. Looking ahead, continued investment, infrastructure and collaboration will ensure the Shannon region can fully capitalise on its key advantages.

Deputy Joe Cooney

I thank the Minister for his update and his commitment to Shannon and the wider mid-west region, which is very much appreciated. The overdevelopment of Dublin is not a Dublin problem, it is a national failure of planning and political will. Shannon and the wider region are not asking for charity. They are asking for the investment and commitment to do what they have always been able to do: contribute in a meaningful way to Ireland's economic future. Let us stop managing congestion in Dublin and start building prosperity in the west, which is important. Let us recognise the strategic importance of Shannon and the wider region by investing in our airport, in the roads and in the public transport network and in public services that will ensure its future growth. The Shannon Chamber, which I have worked with on raising this issue, the Shannon Airport Group, Clare County Council and the wider business community in the region are willing to support the Government in delivering on its commitment to balanced regional development. We need the political will to match.

Deputy Peter Burke

I again thank Deputy Cooney. I had a great visit with him to County Clare and Shannon focusing on some of the key businesses that are there.

We visited the Roche site, where there is huge potential, and we saw the works that are being carried out to remediate that site. We also visited Beckman Coulter, another exciting life sciences company, and we will see significant investment from other companies in the region, like Jaguar Land Rover, which is really working to invest significantly, and also PPG and Zimmer Biomet. There is huge opportunity. Working with Deputy Cooney and the key support he has provided to me and the Government, we hope we will have a very significant announcement during the summer by a leading Irish-born company in relation to Shannon. This will be a strong testament to the work of the Government in providing the key infrastructure but also in ensuring that we have a highly skilled workforce, and that we are getting key training opportunities into our workforce to meet the challenges of artificial intelligence, getting our skills observatory up and running, and ensuring that the high-performance in Enterprise Ireland that looks after our homegrown entities is excelling. We see right now that of the 196 high-performance graduates, half of them are grounded in AI. That is where we need to be as a country to take those key opportunities.

I assure Deputy Cooney of my purpose and delivery and we will work very hard together to ensure we are delivering for the west and Shannon as a key economic hub and a driver for the mid-west and our country, as the Deputy has pointed out. I know it has been very successful at getting additional funding under the regional airports fund and it will be important to keep up that commitment from Government. I assure the Deputy of my support and I look forward to the announcement later in the summer. Last year, on a trade mission, as the first time ever for an Irish Minister, I visited the top Irish-born companies in Ireland over two days and sought what their issues and challenges were. Right now in this country, the top ten Irish-born companies employ 450,000 people globally, which is a very strong testament to Irish-born companies and the indigenous economy.

Dáil Éireann díospóireacht - Wednesday, 17 Jun 2026