Additional special classes have been sanctioned to open in mainstream schools from this coming September

0:00Now, an additional 36 special classes have been sanctioned to open in mainstream schools from this coming September. 18 of those classes are in primary schools, while 17 will be at post-primary level. All but one of the classes will cater for students with autism. In all, at least 400 additional special classes are due to open this September. However, a school in Fingless in North Dublin that was granted to special classes in 2024 and 2025, says it's still waiting for the necessary accommodation. Fingless Parochial National Schoolers had to lease space in a local community hall to temporarily accommodate the students concerned and can only do this for two or two and a half hours a day, less than half the school time required by the pupils. Rachel Adams is principal of the school. She's been speaking to our reporter Kate Egan about what happened after they were granted those two special classes. Our school is a four-class

1:00classroom school. At the moment, we don't, we're very limited on physical resources. We don't have a p-hole. We don't have a sensory room. So when we were granted these classes, it was on the understanding that we would get modular accommodation, properly kitted out for children with additional needs, providing sensory rooms and changing places, toilets and all the bits that need to be provided. What's been happening since then? The date has been pushed out over and over again and I had to give the news to the parents on Friday that it's now going to be 2027 and even at that I can't promise that. What impact do you think this is having on the pupils in the school? On the pupils and on their families, it has just been so disruptive. So many of the families have accepted a place here, want their children to come to school here and are constantly hearing that the date has been pushed out again and again. Parents, some of our parents have had to give it working or have had to cook their working hours because we can only accommodate two to two and a

2:00half hours. The children are making good progress for the two hours that they're here, but it's nowhere near the progress that they would make if they were in a classroom and in a proper setup. We were really hoping that we would be cutting the ribbon to the classes in September 2025. This was something that the school has fought long and hard for. We know that the need is there in the area and we wanted to meet that need. So it's been devastating to provide that news to parents once again that the classes will not be open for the foreseeable at this point. And that was Principal Rachel Adams talking there to our reporter Kate Egan. Owen Kenney is the Labour Party's education spokesman and he's in her at the oil studio. Good afternoon. Good afternoon, Rachel. Now, not every school will be able to get a new classroom at the same time and presumably come September. You know, there will be schools where those classrooms haven't been built. So how should the government handle this? Yeah, absolutely.

3:00Just listening to that school principal there, that story is very evident across many areas of the country, where there has been a number of schools who have taken on special classes within mainstream environments, having been given the understanding that appropriate school accommodation would be put in place to meet the needs of all children. And that is in the reality that's being faced on the ground now, by our school staff, by our students and by their families as well as explained there by the school principal. A lot of students across the country now aren't reduced timetables, which has a genuine effect on the running of the family home, but also has a very, very negative effect on the child themselves. Because what we often forget is that the centre of every single one of these issues is a child and the fundamental clear issue that we are facing as a country is that education rights are not being met if we cannot provide appropriate school places and appropriate school accommodation for children.

4:03So there are a number of things that the government can do and the Labour Party have set out very clear ambitions for school building projects across the country in our alternative borders. Is it realistic though to expect all of these additional classrooms to be built by next September? Well, see, that's the very difficult thing we have. A government put a sticking plaster issue on what was a very significant issue last year where the many children across the country couldn't get access to a class in a mainstream environment or in a special school. And that sticking plaster was that we would open up as many special classes as possible to meet the needs of the level of need across the country. Isn't that good news though? But what we didn't have with that was the appropriate accommodation being put in place. So you have a lot of special classes across the country who are operating out of corridors and schools. They're operating out of very small classrooms which do not fit the needs of every single child that's in the classroom. It's completely and utterly unacceptable. It's a lack of planning. It's a lack of forward

5:04thinking and it shouldn't be a situation where children would have to learn in inappropriate school settings. It would seem though that at the moment the only alternative is that those special classes aren't given the go ahead. Well, what we need to see from government is that there is an absolute clear indication from them that they have within their own remit an understanding of the level of need across the country and what school accommodation is needed. The NCSE themselves, the National Council of Special Education, do not have any idea of the level of applicants that require a special class. Can you just imagine that? There is an amount of students across this country who absolutely require special class places and special school places and the body tasked with giving those special classes and special school places have no idea even the number of applicants that require those special classes. It's absolutely unheard of. It's completely and utterly damning for parents to be listening to this because they cannot fathom and I've spoken to a number of parents and a number of families about this.

6:06Over 40 just contacted my own office about this who can't get access to a school place and they cannot fathom or understand how the body tasked with giving out special classes and special school places cannot even provide a figure of the level of applicants. Listen, we'll have to leave it at that for this afternoon, but I've a feeling it's an issue will be returning to own Kenny of the Labour Party. Thanks for joining us from Lanster House.