Ba mhaith liom ceist a chur ar an Aire Oideachais agus Scileanna. The spiralling cost of insurance has been well discussed in this House. Today, I wish to focus on insurance costs for special schools. St. Martin's special school in Waterford is a state-of-the-art school that was opened in June 2018. It has 78 pupils with mild, severe and complex intellectual needs. The school employs two nurses. However, since the new building opened, insurance costs have been rising with more pupils and more staff. Currently, the school receives a capitation grant of €56,000, and 38% of that is now being used for insurance. That is putting considerable strains on the principal and the board of management and it is not sustainable. Already, the quote for the premium for next year has increased from €21,500 to €24,000, and the principal of the school is extremely worried about how he will fund it.

I thank the Deputy for raising this important question. I think it was St. Teresa's in Roscommon that started this debate earlier in the year. What we have done in response to that issue is to work with the management bodies of the 125 special schools on a joint approach whereby a collective application would be made for insurance. Not all special schools have signed up to the plan but they are in the process. Intense communication and dialogue is ongoing between my officials and the management bodies to ensure that we are on top of this issue.