Scoil Mochua in Clondalkin provides education and disability supports to approximately 76 children from Dublin and the wider Leinster region. The children who attend the school have profound physical and intellectual disabilities. For 30 years, the school, its staff and its parents have worked together to transform the lives of hundreds of children. The school's patron is the Central Remedial Clinic, CRC. Scoil Mochua receives €2.65 million a year from the Department of Education, which pays for the school's staff salaries and running costs. The CRC administers this funding through its administration and payroll sections. Due to the specific needs of the children, Scoil Mochua faces significant additional costs. Its insurance premium is higher than that of a mainstream school. The heating system must be turned on early in the morning to ensure the building is warm when the children arrive. Cleaning services have to be of a hospital standard. For many years, the CRC has provided €125,000 in additional funding to the school to cover these costs.

Last year, a person from the HSE was seconded to head up the CRC. This year, the CRC decided to change these funding arrangements. There was no meaningful consultation with Scoil Mochua. It was dealt a double blow. It was told that it would have to manage its own payroll and expenditure from September and that the CRC was withdrawing the additional funding of €125,000. This will have a devastating impact on the school and, most importantly, on the children. The CRC has said it made this change because its funding comes through a service level agreement with the HSE and therefore must be used for disability services only. However, up until 2023, this service level agreement explicitly mentioned Scoil Mochua and the provision of educational services.

Last night on "Prime Time", the school's principal, Sophia Casey, and the chair of the board of management, Matt Swain, outlined the impact of these changes. The school faces a real funding crisis. The funding is being withdrawn with no plan or pathway to plug the gap. The rug has been pulled from under the feet of those who work non-stop to keep the school going. Parents Avril Mc Stravick and Colin Bell also spoke on "Prime Time". Their worry and the pressure they are under was written all over their faces. They say there are exhausted and worn out and that all of their time goes into looking after their children. It is simply not fair to ask parents to fundraise to make up a shortfall of €125,000.

Caithfidh an Rialtas dearbhú do leanaí agus tuismitheoirí Scoil Mochua go réiteofar an ghéarchéim mhaoinithe seo. These parents are angry. The staff and board are alarmed for the future of the school and children. They need a solution and a plan. They need the Government to put their minds to rest and for this funding to be assured. Will the Minister give them that assurance today? Given the seriousness of the situation, will the Ministers for Education and Health urgently meet with Scoil Mochua and the CEO of the Central Remedial Clinic to work out a resolution to this matter speedily?

I thank the Deputy very much for raising what is a very important issue for the school and for education policy in general. I know she agrees that all the girls and boys who go to that school and their teachers deserve support and recognition in the learning received and the teaching provided. It is therefore very important that this issue be raised here today.

I will comment on the general supports available to our schools that look after young girls and boys who have additional and further needs and then deal with the very specific issue the Deputy has raised as regards Scoil Mochua and other schools like it. The efforts of the Government and our country to respond back to the additional needs of young pupils within our schools are the reason €2.9 billion was allocated to the budget of the Department of Education to support these schools and special schools involved in meeting the additional educational needs of young people and teenagers who need additional support. I am very conscious that, in standing here in the Dáil using figures like hundreds of millions or billions of euro, we cannot lose sight of the plight of that young student in the classroom. As the Deputy recognised, we also cannot lose sight of the pressures faced by teachers, school principals and others involved in running schools. Figures like these may appear very big and, at times, distant from that daily reality. However, I still have to make that point to emphasise the support that is available. It is the reason we now have so many special needs education staff within our country. There are more than 1,600 additional staff available, which means we have 23,000 such staff at the moment. We are now hiring additional special education teachers to meet the very needs highlighted by the Deputy both generally and with regard to this school.

With regard to the issues raised in respect of the school itself, enhanced capitation rates are available to schools that provide special services, special educational supports and special classes. This is designed to recognise the reality of the additional funding needs and pressures such schools face, which have been indicated today. In addition to this measure, under this year's budget, an additional €45 million in cost-of-living supports will issue to schools to help with the issues we know they are facing as the cost of running a school goes up due to changes in access to goods and supports and the cost of electricity and energy. All of this is in place because we need to ensure that our schools are warm and well supported and that the teachers and pupils have the supports we want them to have.

On the specific issue of the need for engagement with the school, I understand such engagement between the school and the Department of Education is under way with the aim of finding a way to deal with the issues highlighted on "Prime Time" last night and by the Deputy in the Dáil this afternoon. I expect that meetings will happen in this regard. The Ceann Comhairle should be assured that, with the funding available to us, this Government wants to ensure that these pupils get the support and care they need and deserve and that the teachers get the support they need, given the nature of the work they do and the value we all place on those efforts.

For all that, schools are generally underfunded. This specific school is underfunded to the tune of €125,000, which is needed for heating, cleaning and insurance costs. The CRC has provided a backstop for the shortfall in money coming from the Department of Education. The Minister can tell the House if this has changed but the information I have been given is that Department is flatly refusing to make up this shortfall or to allocate any additional money. If there is now engagement between the Department and the school, that is very welcome news but the Minister might clarify when that happened. The Central Remedial Clinic is in receipt of €24 million of public money, and rightly so. It is astonishing that it would unilaterally decide to take €125,000 from this school. It is not an enormous sum of money in the bigger scheme of things but it is a fortune to this school. In its absence, the school faces real difficulty. If this is let go ahead, there is a possibility that the school may not be able to function.

It is as real as that. The pressure point comes in the first quarter of next year so there needs to be immediate action. This €125,000 needs to be found.

I can absolutely assure the Deputy of our desire, which I am sure is the desire of everyone in this House, to continue to support the school beyond quarter 1, well into what I am sure will be an important future for it in meeting the needs and educational needs of the pupils it is looking after. To reiterate what I said a moment ago, we recognise in general the demands that schools are facing and the demands that this school in particular is facing due to the work it is doing.

On the specific questions that the Deputy put to me, first with regard to the CRC, she is right that it is in receipt of State funding, as she said, for important work that it does. I will have to find out, and am sure I will be able to, why it made the decision that it did. Second, I want to again offer an assurance that engagement is ongoing. I am sure that engagement was happening before "Prime Time" and before this question in the Dáil-----

It was not.

-----but I know it will only be heightened by the exchange that we are having here today. Given the funding we are making available for special education, particularly for these schools, to meet the needs of the pupils and support the teachers, I hope this can be brought to a place where the school can get the support it needs so its valuable work can continue in the future.