Louth Senator welcomes expansion of summer special educational school programme

Fianna Fáil Senator Erin McGreehan has said the expansion of the special education Summer Programme will “significantly” benefit children of all abilities across the country. 

Education Minister and Fianna Fáil TD for Kerry Norma Foley announced details of the 2023 Summer Programme recently. 

The focus is on children with the most complex special educational needs being able to have access to a school-based programme.  

More than 42,000 pupils availed of summer provision last year, up from 13,000 in 2019.   

A new National Coordinator for special schools is set to be appointed to oversee the running of the programme in special schools and to liaise with the Department of Education.  

95 vacant social homes returned to active use in Louth in 2022

€1.045m in funding recouped by Louth County Council in Voids Programme

Vintage fashion fever sees NCBI Retail expand collection in Dundalk

NCBI Retail has thousands of vintage pieces from brands like Ralph Lauren, Prada, Armani and more

It is hoped it will alleviate pressure from school management and present an opportunity for other teachers. 

A new Special School Pilot scheme has also been developed to ensure supports are targeted.  

In addition, there are two in-school schemes for mainstream primary schools: the Primary School Scheme and the DEIS expanded literacy and numeracy summer camp/campa samhraidh for pupils in DEIS schools.  

There is one scheme at post-primary level.  

For these schemes there will be a role Summer Programme Organiser, which must be allocated to one specific teacher, and the role of Summer Programme Manager can be shared between teachers in a school. 

Senator McGreehan said: “Last year, Minister Foley and Minister Madigan made changes to the summer provision where we saw more kids than ever availed of the programme - more than 40,000 children.

"And in this year’s budget allocation there’s more than €40million  to extend the scheme further.  

 “The expansion of the programme is significant.

"There’s going to be an extra provision for children in special schools and there’s a pilot project being run specifically for kids in special educational settings. 

“For me, that will make sure the programme extends to all people of all abilities.”  

The Louth Senator urged all school communities to examine how best they can offer this programme to their students. 

“It’s important that as many schools log onto this portal when it’s launched and avail of the extra resources,” she added.    

An online registration portal will be available soon for schools on gov.ie/summerprogramme