Josepha Madigan (Dublin Rathdown, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

If the Minister wishes, I am happy to take that question. I advise the Deputy that the 200 school buildings will deliver 111 special educational needs rooms and 145 of those are going into construction. There will be a total of 247 new special educational needs rooms delivered between now and the halfway point of 2021.

On the Deputy’s specific question relating to his constituency and the areas within it, he will be aware that we triggered the section 37A mechanism to try to compel schools where we cannot consent to open special educational needs classes. There are special class places confirmed and there is the potential for another 66 before September of this year. There is a commitment to that from the majority of these schools. Only ten stated they could not provide them and many of those have exceptional reasons for doing so in that they do not have the capacity or the room. The Deputy can appreciate that in high density areas it is quite difficult for schools to expand. We will be using all mechanisms open to us, as will the National Council for Special Education, to ensure we have enough special educational needs classes for everybody.