Michael Moynihan (Cork North-West, Fianna Fail)

The closing date last year for notification of the NCSE was 1 February. That was moved out another week or so because of Storm Éowyn. We have brought that date back to 1 October 2025 for parents to notify the NCSE of requirements for special educational needs into the 2026 school year. Our commitment is that we will have that planning done between now and Christmas. That work was being done in April and May of this year. We want to ensure that families have clear roadmaps of where their children can go to school in September 2026 before the year 2026 starts. We are taking the stress out of it. There was some negative commentary about us pulling back the date to 1 October, which I refute completely. It is important that we move it back, that we have timelines in place and that very serious decisions would be made by the NCSE and the Department of education. When we know the need on 1 October, we will be looking at the figures and where the need is across the country. We will try to match the need with the school communities and also make sure that the students who have been notified to us will be advised of places as early as possible. Our commitment is that we will have those decisions before Christmas 2025.