Last Friday I was in Monaghan. While I was there, I met with a group of parents of children with profound special needs. Their stories were very familiar to me - all too familiar, in fact, because I hear similar in every community visit that I make. They battle the system every single day to try to secure for their children the services they need, such as assessments of need, occupational therapy appointments, speech and language therapy, resources and school places. They are looking for fair play and for someone to listen because it is clear that the Government is not listening. Some of these parents in County Monaghan came together to form Special Needs Active Parents, SNAP. I am sure the Minister, Deputy Humphreys, knows the group. In fact, some of the parents are here in the Gallery with us today. They campaign for the services their children need and deserve.

Last February, my colleague Deputy Matt Carthy organised a disability forum in Monaghan, attended by our spokespersons, Deputies Pauline Tully and David Cullinane. Dozens were expected to attend, but in fact hundreds turned up. Families from across County Monaghan, and indeed some from neighbouring counties, told stories of how they and their children were denied respite care, education places and the therapies and treatments that would allow their children to live full lives. Parents should not have to bare their souls to describe the most intimate personal details of their most private family moments to a public meeting or to a politician, but this is exactly what these families are forced to do. Parents of children with special needs must fight every day in every county, but surely the Minister will agree that in County Monaghan they have had to fight harder than most. For too long Monaghan was one of the only counties without an overnight respite service for children. It is only in recent weeks, thanks to the campaign of these families, that Monaghan now has an interim respite service. However, all the indications so far show that this service, welcome as it is, comes nowhere close to meeting demand. Adult services are also severely lacking.

Monaghan remains just one of two counties that still do not have a special school. Why is that? Children in Monaghan have to travel on a bus to the Holy Family School in County Cavan, which is a great school, by all accounts, but I have met parents. I met the parent of a seven-year-old child, who told me that the child travels by bus for two hours each way every day to get to and from that school. That is not acceptable. For years, it has been plainly evident that County Monaghan needs a special school. At least one site has been offered as a potential location for the school, but the Government simply says it is reviewing the situation. The Government still has not stated the criteria for such a review or explained how some counties with a similar profile have a number of special schools, yet Monaghan has none.

Tá tuismitheoirí agus teaghlaigh i gContae Mhuineacháin i mbun feachtais le fada an lá ar son scoil speisialta. Ní féidir leo fanacht níos faide. Iarraim ar an Aire a rá leo cathain a gheobhaidh siad í. While the Government is reviewing, families are forced to continue telling their stories and forced to continue approaching politicians to beg for something that must of us should take for granted - appropriate school places for our sons and daughters. Will the Minister commit today that Monaghan will have a special school and tell those parents when they will have it, because these families have waited far too long?

I thank Deputy McDonald for raising this issue. I welcome the families from County Monaghan who have travelled here today. I did not know they were coming, but I spoke to one of the representatives last night.

Special education is a key priority for this Government. It has been underpinned by over a quarter of the entire education budget. For 2025, €2.9 billion will be spent on special education, an increase of €113 million. This will allow for, among other things, the opening of 400 new special classes in mainstream schools and 300 additional special school places. Since 2020, almost 1,700 new special classes and 11 special schools have been provided. An additional 768 special education teachers and 1,600 SNAs have also been provided. This is the highest number of SNAs allocated, bringing SNA posts nationwide to over 23,000. The investment of €62 million is the largest yet for summer programmes. There are targeted resources to help with planning and transitioning for children with special education needs. There is a dedicated special education innovation fund in recognition of the need to continually evolve and examine best practice. Additional funding to provide for enhanced training requirements for teachers and SNAs has been announced. At a national level, since 2020, almost 1,700 new special classes with 11 schools have been provided. For this school year, over 400 new special classes have been sanctioned and four new special schools opened last month in Meath, Kildare, Wexford and Limerick. Throughout the summer, the National Council for Special Education, NCSE, and the Department of Education have worked intensely with some schools to provide further capacity, and work has focused on particular areas in north Dublin.

I am more than familiar with what is going on in County Monaghan. I know all about the Holy Family School. It is an excellent facility built on the border between Cavan and Monaghan, at the time, to facilitate the needs of the people in the region. I am fully aware of that. In terms of the Monaghan special school, four new classes have been confirmed, bringing the number of special classes in the county up to 46. Deputy McDonald was very welcome in Monaghan. I am sorry to have missed her. When she was there, Deputy Carthy could have brought her to Clontibret to show her the fabulous facilities they have in the school to cater for people with special needs. Deputy Carthy also could have brought her to Lough Morn or to St. Tiarnach's in Clones to see the wonderful work they are doing in all of those units.

The Department of Education and the NCSE are working to increase special school capacity for the 2025-26 school year and beyond. Where additional school places are needed, the preference is generally to expand capacity in existing schools. However, consideration is being given to whether further new special schools, in addition to the 11 schools that are established or are being established, are required in certain locations. As part of this work, the NCSE is examining known demand in areas, the distances children are travelling to special schools and the capacity in an area to expand special schools where they already exist. This work is ongoing and is expected to be substantially completed in late autumn. A number of regions are under consideration for special school provision, including Monaghan. I can assure Deputy McDonald that I will be making the case for Monaghan, and I am sure Deputy Carthy will support me.

I wish the school in Clontibret and educators beyond that all the very best in Monaghan, but Deputy Carthy brought me to meet these families. They are who we met and they could recite the stats just as well as the Minister, maybe even better than her. They are still left with the reality that there is no special school in Monaghan. The special classrooms have their place and are extremely valuable. Investment in them is important. I acknowledge that. It is not the whole story, however. That is precisely the point that these parents have made.

When they advance their need for a special school, the Minister shouts back at them about special classrooms. That is not what is needed. They need a special school. Monaghan does not have one. They told me about Navan and other locations where special schools have been opened. Do not get me wrong. Nobody begrudges these areas those schools. All of that capacity is needed but Monaghan does not have a special school.

The Minister says a review is under way that will report back in late autumn. It is 9 October so I do not know what late autumn means to her. What I want is a commitment from her as Minister, a member of this Government and, to be blunt, a constituency TD that Monaghan will have its special school with no more hiding or delays behind reviews - just a simple commitment. The parents have done the work on demand. The Minister knows this. I am sure she has seen their surveys. They have even done the work for the Department as well, so well done them.

I am well aware of the figures but there is a process here. Even the Deputy will accept that. I have been engaging regularly with the Minister of State, Deputy Naughton, the NCSE and the local ETB, which I feel will also play an important role in this process. I can tell the Deputy about all of the fine buildings and investment that has gone into Monaghan in terms of education, including the new schools there. Only recently the Minister for Education, Deputy Foley, turned the sod on a new Gaelscoil in Castleblayney and met with the parents from SNAP on that occasion. I have met with them, as has the Minister of State, Deputy Rabbitte, who came specially to Monaghan to talk to them. I am meeting them again in the coming weeks.

I am committed to supporting the needs of parents of children with special needs in Monaghan, as are Deputies Niamh Smyth and Brendan Smith and Senators Joe O'Reilly and Robbie Gallagher. We are aware of it and are doing what we can but there is a process here. Deputy McDonald has been down to see them. Deputy Tóibín has been down to see them. Monaghan is a very interesting place. Everyone here wants to come there. We are well aware of what is going on. I can assure the Deputy that I am well capable of representing the people of Cavan and Monaghan.

Is that a "Yes"?

I can assure the Deputy that I am committed to providing a school in Monaghan but we have a process. I cannot click my fingers and produce a school. There is a process and I am engaging with the Minister, Deputy Foley, and the Minister of State, Deputy Naughton, on that process.

So that is a "Yes".

There is a process.