The Government is to re-open applications for summer programmes for children with complex needs or from disadvantaged backgrounds after what the Opposition said was a “botched” first attempt at enrolment.
Tánaiste Simon Harris told the Dáil during Leaders’ Questions on Thursday the programme will be re-opened for applications next week after a shorter-than-usual initial window was opened earlier this month.
He had been challenged over the situation by Sinn Féin deputy leader Pearse Doherty, who said the initial decision to open the online applications portal for nine days only was “deeply unfair and badly handled”.
“This is mean-spirited, this is penny-pinching, it is penny-pinching at the expense of vulnerable children,” Doherty said in the Dáil.
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Responding, Harris said the Government would be contacting schools about the change today and reopening the portal for applications next week after Minister for Education Hildegarde Naughton “listened directly to the concerns of schools and parents”.
“We’re absolutely committed to growing and supporting that summer programme,” the Tánaiste said, adding there had been a 210 per cent increase in the programme in recent years.
The summer education programme allows schools to give educational support during the summer holidays to children with complex educational needs or those most at risk of educational disadvantage. It runs both home-based and school-based options.
Doherty welcomed the decision but argued that schools remained under “huge pressure” because of the “botched situation” that had occurred. He argued the inability for students to choose both home-based and school-based options was locking medically vulnerable children out of the programme.
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Meanwhile, Labour Party finance spokesman Ged Nash challenged Harris on plans to implement €446 million in levies on Government departments to pay for an overspend in the Department of Education. He asked him to outline which planned new services would be stalled or which existing services “will you cut or scale back”.
The Louth TD also suggested Government was seeking to avoid scrutiny of the issue as departments had been asked to revert with their planned spending adjustments the day after the Dáil breaks up for summer.
Harris defended the levy, dismissed the idea that these were cuts, and said every department will have a higher budget in 2027 than they did in 2026.
“I don’t believe there is anybody in Ireland ... that does not believe savings, efficiencies and reforms can be found in the public service.”
Harris also told Social Democrats deputy leader Cian O’Callaghan that he agreed there should be a rebalancing of the provision of respite care for disabled people away from private for profit providers. He agreed the Government was not where it needed to be on the issue of care for disabled people after their parents die.
Dublin Bay North TD O’Callaghan had raised the work of campaign group Before We Die with Harris. The group advocates for better support and housing solutions for adults with intellectual disabilities in Ireland. “Where we are isn’t where we need to be” on the matter, Harris said, and noted the Cabinet committee on disability had met recently and taken several decisions motivated by the campaign’s advocacy, which he said would move away “from a crisis approach to a planned approach”.
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