2026-06-17

The level of support provided by the summer programme and its recognised benefits are very clear. It is recognised by school communities, parents and children themselves. There is increasing demand for the programme and, in recent years, an increased number of places have been provided. However, very real problems have been identified this year. Something different is happening in the administration of the scheme this year. In some cases, this means that children who were intended to benefit from the programme now will not. I have my suspicions about what is going on here. We all hear about the budgetary challenges in the Department. I believe they are at play here. We raised the issue of the very narrow application window, which the Department revisited, and that was welcome. I am hearing this from school communities and parents across the length the breadth of Ireland. A thread running through all of the complaints is that an entirely different approach is being taken now by the Department regarding SNA allocation. I have specific examples. In County Offaly, a school does tremendous work in special education and has an above-circular allocation in recognition of the complex needs in the school. It has nine SNAs but has been told it will have six for the summer programme. In Trim, a school with a tremendous track record in special education has 18 SNAs but has been told it has 12 for the summer programme. This means that children with additional and complex needs will be locked out of the scheme. There is another case in a DEIS school in County Cavan. It wants to roll out a literacy and numeracy camp but will have to exclude children with additional needs because of the lack of SNA allocation. This is one very important issue that I want addressed by the Minister of State. The other is the home-based programme. There is an absolute delay in sanctioning this to the extent that children, particularly secondary school children but also some in primary, might not get the opportunity at all. We know that in previous years the sanction happened way earlier. We are now running towards the end of June, and this has not been sanctioned. Schools that applied earlier in the year were told that it would be late May or early June before they would get the sanction letters but they are now told it will be the end of June. In some cases, tutors, teachers and SNAs are only available in the month of June. Their own children are at primary school and they are working in secondary schools, so they have the flexibility in the month of June that they do not have in July and August. These children are going to miss out on the summer programme as a result of these delays. What is going on? Can the Minister of State urgently address those deficiencies?

I thank the Deputy for the question. Like the Deputy, we recognise the importance of the summer programme as a vital piece in the education system. It is vital for children at primary and post-primary school. It is specifically designed for children with complex educational needs or those at risk of educational disadvantage. While it is delivered during the summer months, it is an educational programme and it is important that it is viewed as educational rather than as recreation in summer camps. Since 2021, the Department of Education and Youth’s inspectorate has evaluated the programme annually. The findings consistently highlight the programme’s positive impact on the many children and young people who have taken part, with parents, staff and the children themselves reporting improvements in confidence, attitude and readiness to return to school in September. The original intention and continued emphasis of the summer programme is to mitigate the impact of learning loss on those children while schools are closed. An increase in special educational needs prevalence rates, particularly of autism, and the presentation of children with more complex needs, has meant that the summer programme is more important than ever. Details of the summer programme were communicated to schools and stakeholders in early May. While it is acknowledged that the details of the programme are typically announced earlier, the Department has continually kept in touch with stakeholders who are querying when the summer programme might be announced. This ensured that schools understood it would be forthcoming and that they should start their preparations. As a result, the online application portals for both the school-based and the home-based programmes were opened from 6 May to 15 May. Both the Minister, Deputy Naughton, and I were aware of the deadline, and the application portals were reopened again from 2 to 5 June. Details of this reopening were announced in May. The summer programme has been well established for several years, so even though there was a shorter window for applications, schools were prepared in advance. The Department subsequently received more applications for the school-based scheme this year than in 2025, with increases across primary, post-primary and special schools. In addition, the number of home-based applications has significantly increased on last year. The Department has been engaging with schools on an individual basis in relation to the running of their summer programme. Schools have now received their sanction letters with their staffing allocation. This allocation is based on the number of children who are taking part in accordance with the published terms and conditions of the programme. In instances where schools believe they require additional supports, they can engage, and many are engaging, with the Department to outline the unique circumstances that require additional resources. I know the Department has been working with schools on an individual basis to ensure they can meet the needs of all the children taking part. Equally, it is acknowledged that there are some children with complex special educational needs whose school is not running a school-based programme or that a place on the school-based programme is not available. In this instance, these children can avail of the home-based provision. The Department is working hard to ensure it is communicating with families as a matter of urgency. As the Deputy rightly pointed out, we are in the second half of June, and we need to get certainty to all communities. Many schools have been liaising with us in the past week or ten days in particular, and the Department has been engaging with them. Where a need is demonstrated, additional staffing is being made available. This will continue to work until the summer programme is up and running. We are very serious about making sure that the summer programme works this year and into the future.

I would be interested to know the numbers. I recognise they have been increasing year on year. My understanding from replies to parliamentary question that I have received from the Department is that the budget has increased but it has not increased in the past two years and has been static. I know there were 1,800 schools and 71,000 children last year. How many schools and children are there this year? Will the Minister of State indicate whether more schools will participate this year and whether more children will be accommodated? I know many schools are engaging in the appeals process. I implore the Minister of State to ensure timely responses. I am dealing with a number of schools that have appealed. They engaged in good faith and outlined their particular circumstances but it is more than ten working days later and they have had no response from the Department. That has to change. When will the sanction letters for the home-based programme be issued to give people a clear indication that they can go about making arrangements?

There has been an increase in the number of schools. More applications were received for school-based programmes this year than in 2025, with an increase across the primary, post-primary and special schools. In addition, there has been an increase in home-based applications, which significantly increased last year. We are working across the system to ensure we are delivering decisions and appeals. Further information has been sent in by school authorities to the Department in recent days, and that is being worked on in a timely manner. Certainty is being issued to schools, and we understand the need for that. There has been an increase. This shows the value that the families and school communities put on the summer programme. I am pleased to see that more primary, post-primary and special schools are engaging in the programme. That is what we want. We want to make sure the programme is open to all. In the past few years, there has been an increase of 210% in child participation. That is welcome. It is what it is all about. It is to ensure that children who require further education, those with additional educational needs and children from disadvantaged backgrounds have the opportunity of the summer programme. This programme was devised many years ago and it has been successful and has been running across the schools. We understand the value of it. The engagement between the Department and the school authorities is ongoing. A lot of documentation was issued over the last day or so in terms of staffing and that will continue. On the home-based tuition, or the home-based programme, we are working to bring clarity to families because I know families need certainty at this point in the year.