Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent)
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67. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the number of children who will be left without a place on the summer programme this year; if her attention has been drawn to the practice of parents paying teachers privately to secure a summer provision space; if she has established the extent of this practice; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [29346/24]

Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent)
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Tá mé ag díriú isteach ar an togra faoi leith atá ar siúl i rith an tsamhraidh agus go háirid chun ceist a chuir ar an Aire Stáit an bhfuil a fhios aici cé mhéad dalta nach mbeidh rochtain acu ar an scéim sin. Freisin, an bhfuil an tAire Stáit ar an eolas faoin gcleachtas atá ann go bhfuil ar tuismitheoirí íoc as an gclár chun spás a fháil? I am focusing on the number of children who will be left without a place on the summer programme and also on the practice - I am not sure how widespread it is - that seems to have arisen whereby parents have to pay to secure a place on the summer provision.

Hildegarde Naughton (Galway West, Fine Gael)
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I thank the Deputy for her question. I am delighted that funding of €40 million has been secured again this year to ensure a comprehensive summer programme is available in 2024. The funding of €40 million is designed to cover the full costs associated with the summer programme. On that particular issue, parents should not be asked to make financial contributions to the summer programme. My Department was made aware of one case, which was immediately resolved. Should any parent find themselves in a position where they are asked to contribute in any way, I would be very keen to hear from them on that because that is just completely unacceptable. All schools have an opportunity to run the summer programme for children who need it most. Our main priority is that the children with the most complex special educational needs, especially in special schools, can have access to a school-based summer programme. The measures for the 2024 summer programme have been designed to maximise participation in the school-based programme. The published reports from my Department’s inspectorate have highlighted the enormous value of this programme and I encourage as many schools as possible, particularly special schools, to participate in this programme.

More than 1,700 individual expressions of interest have been received from schools for this year’s summer programme, compared with over 1,400 schools which participated in 2023. Of the schools registered for the 2024 summer programme, 1,475 primary schools registered, up 19% on 2023; 205 post-primary schools, up 28% on 2023; and 72 special schools, up 22% on 2023 and 85% on 2022. Regarding the Deputy’s question on children who may not be able to access the programme, I am pleased that more children are availing of this support each year and I encourage all schools, even at this late stage, that are thinking of undertaking the programme to contact the Department. We will not have the figures for this summer programme until September as they come in. I have figures for 2021, when 37,500 students took part in the summer programme, and 2023, when 50,000 students took part. We have seen a significant increase in the numbers taking up the programme.

Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent)
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I thank the Minister of State for the clarification and for telling me that just one case has been brought to her attention. I hope there will be no more. It is a totally unacceptable practice.

I welcome all the progress that has been made in this programme. I welcome the increase in student numbers and the number of schools. I welcome the changes and the various appointments that have been made. I welcome all of that but we have to put it in context. This arose from a High Court or Supreme Court judgment back in 2001, 23 years ago. That case was taken in the nineties to say that we could not have children with special needs not getting attention during the summer and that it was detrimental to their welfare. That is the background to the summer provision. It was to deal with children with special needs and complex needs. What I am trying to get at here is that I welcome the analysis and the figures, but we have no context to those. We have approximately 8,000 children attending special schools. Less than 50% of the special schools provide their schools for the summer programme. I will stick within my time and stop there.

Hildegarde Naughton (Galway West, Fine Gael)
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When we reached out to schools in order to increase the numbers partaking, we asked them what the barriers to doing the summer programme were. The issues that came up were the rate of pay for teachers and SNAs. We have increased the rate of pay for teachers and SNAs. We have opened up a portal because some of the schools were saying they could not get the teachers or the SNAs. A portal has been opened up for teachers and SNAs to register their interest to work in any school across the country. It is even open to student teachers or to students from other disciplines, for example, therapy, social care, nursing or early years students or care workers, to encourage more schools across the country to partake in this. We have also shortened the school day and provided additional grant funding. A dedicated national co-ordinator for the schools has been appointed and there is faster payment of staff. All of these issues were highlighted by the schools across the country. I want to see even more schools partaking every year, particularly for those with the most complex needs.

Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent)
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I am not diminishing the progress that is being made but to appreciate it fully we need to realise the Government is under a legal obligation to provide summer provision. Within that, how do we assess the progress? It has come as a result of pressure from the parents and the hardship of parents. I have received representations related to parents seeking residential care simply because their children have regressed as they cannot access summer programmes. On top of that, we do not have a breakdown of the percentage of children with special needs who are actually attending the summer programme. We do not have a breakdown. Do they attend for one, two, three or four weeks? There is no minutiae, which is very important so that we can improve the scheme and make it suitable for those who most need it. I understand that some schools use their premises to earn money through summer camps and so on, but do not put an emphasis on special needs.

I am not here to give out about schools. I am here to highlight the legal obligation on the Government to provide summer provision for those who need it most. I would not like to stand here again in the next term looking at the progress in terms of figures without an overall context and a breakdown.

Hildegarde Naughton (Galway West, Fine Gael)
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We all know the value of the summer programme and the Deputy is absolutely right. The feedback from teachers and parents is such that when children can partake in the summer programme, that regression is greatly reduced when they go back to school, which is why we have focused on it. The uptake of special schools has significantly increased, according to the inspectorate report on this.

We can delve down. There are figures-----

Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent)
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What is the percentage for the overall numbers of special schools partaking in the programme?

Hildegarde Naughton (Galway West, Fine Gael)
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I will come back to the Deputy on that and try to delve into those figures. The Department cannot compel schools to participate in the programme because participation in the school-based summer programme is voluntary, and it is a matter for boards of management and schools to decide whether they will run the programme. What the Department has done is reach out to all schools, as we continue to do, in respect of what the barriers are and that is where the issues of pay, access to teachers and SNAs, the portal and increasing the grants for them came in. We will continue to do this because we all absolutely value the importance of the programme. I know we are singing off the one hymn sheet here, but it is important that more schools engage on this. The Department and I will also be looking at this through the budgetary process to see what else we can do to encourage schools.