Michael Moynihan (Cork North-West, Fianna Fail)

I am delighted to be here this morning to discuss the important topic of inclusive education for persons with disabilities. I am not sure whether it is gamekeeper turned poacher or poacher turned gamekeeper but I am at the other side of the table here. I really enjoyed my term as Chairperson of the Oireachtas Committee on Disability Matters in the previous Dáil. Mairéad and all the team who worked on it were absolutely second to none. I know they are continuing that good work. I also know that you, Chairperson, have a huge interest in it as well. I wish the very best of luck to you, as Chair, to the team behind you and to all members of the disability matters committee. It is a hugely important piece of the Houses of the Oireachtas and is highly relevant to everybody living with a disability. I wish you the very best of luck.

We are keeping a keen interest in the work of the committee, and in my new role as Minister of State with responsibility for special education and inclusion I hope we will have regular engagement. Since my appointment as Minister of State in January, I have met numerous children, young people, parents, school teams, advocacy groups and other interested stakeholders. I have a keen sense of the huge volume of work we need to progress to improve the day-to-day lives of our children and adults with disabilities. I am keen to make progress quickly where possible within my own area of responsibility in special education.

As members will be aware, the challenges facing children and adults with disabilities and their families is rightly receiving a lot of attention. Improving the day-to-day lives of people with disabilities is a key priority for the Government. This was clearly articulated earlier this month by the publication of the national disability strategy by my colleagues the Minister, Deputy Norma Foley and the Minister of State, Deputy Hildegarde Naughton.

The new strategy sets out an ambitious whole-of-government approach to advance the realisation of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. Extensive consultation was undertaken with my Department in developing the strategy, which of course has committed to delivering on a number of actions. Leading this is our development of a roadmap for an inclusive education, which is underpinned by the vision incorporated in Article 24 of the UNCRPD of all learners being educated together irrespective of need or ability.

The invitation for today’s meeting kindly set out a number of topics that the committee wishes to discuss. I will touch on each of these shortly but at the outset I want to give the committee a brief update on the position regarding special classes and special school places for this school year and the plans for the 2026-27 school year. I know that this is an issue of significant interest to all members.

While there is a lot of focus on special classes and special school places, it is always important to recall that the majority of children with additional needs are supported to attend mainstream classes with their peers. For children with more complex needs a special class place is provided and for children with the most complex needs a special school place is provided.

To meet the needs of these children, my Department and the National Council for Special Education, working with schools, has accelerated the provision of new special classes and special school places over recent years. This month alone, approximately 30,500 students with more complex needs will be enrolled in special classes and special schools, which is an increase of over 12,000 students since 2020. Every new school building project or extension is reviewed to consider how additional special education capacity can be provided within the school.

An average of 400 new special classes and over 300 additional special school places are being provided annually. Sixteen new special schools have been established, with the most recent five of these opening this week or very shortly in Cork, Tipperary, Monaghan and two in Dublin.

In recognition of the need to better support parents of children and young people seeking a special class or special school place, the number of front-line special educational needs organisers, SENOs, in the NCSE doubled at the start of the last school year. To further ease the burden on parents in relation to school admissions, the Department is also committed to introducing a common application system which will end the requirement to apply individually to multiple schools. As a first step, a single online application is being piloted for admission to post-primary special classes for the first year for the 2026-2027 school year in five towns.

Over recent months, both the Minister, Deputy McEntee, and I have met the chief executive of the National Council for Special Education and senior Department officials on a weekly basis to track the progress being made in respect of special education places for children and young people with more complex needs for this school year and to discuss forward planning for 2026 and 2027.

The latest information from the National Council for Special Education outlines that all of the children and young people outside of Dublin known to it by the February 2025 deadline under the new parents' notification scheme have a place for this school year. The NCSE continues to work with a very small number of families in Dublin to access available special class places. Significant capacity has been created through the provision of over 400 new special classes and 300 additional special school places, as well as the places that become available through the normal movement of students from primary to post-primary and finishing post-primary and special schools.

Looking forward to the next school year, a lot of work has been done to ensure that new classes can be sanctioned quicker than in previous years. In my short few months in the role I have witnessed first-hand the commitment of the Department and NCSE teams to ensure that sufficient special class and special school capacity is available. I assure the committee that the Department and the NCSE have undertaken significant forward planning and preparatory work to ensure that new provision for the next school year, 2026-2027, is confirmed at an earlier stage. The aim of both the Department and the NCSE is to get classes sanctioned by the end of September this year for the following school year, which will provide clarity and certainty for both parents and schools. This will allow for greater lead-in times and will ensure that the facilities and accommodation are provided in time for children to attend school in September 2026. I remind parents of children and young people seeking a special class or special school place of the need to make contact with the NCSE before 1 October to ensure it has all relevant information on children seeking a specialist placement next year. I ask the members of the committee, because they have a sphere of influence in their communities, to bring attention to that date. The more information we have on 1 October, the better we can plan for the 2026-2027 school year. I ask all members to use whatever is at their disposal to get that date out there.

Touching briefly, in the time available to me, on some of the other topics which I know committee members will wish to discuss in greater detail during the meeting, I wish to give the following updates. The EPSEN Act has now been reviewed and 51 recommendations arise from that review. The Department is now looking at how to best implement them. All those 51 recommendations have been accepted by the Government.

Considerable work has already progressed in establishing the new therapy serviceswithin the National Council for Special Education, which will ensure that no matter where a child is enrolled, he or she will have access to occupational and speech and language therapies that will augment those available through the HSE.

A review of the assistive technology scheme is ongoing to see this support move from a diagnosis-led to a needs-based and more child-centred approach, in keeping with departmental policy.

This will alleviate the need for parents to provide professional reports when looking to secure technologies to support their child’s learning. It is also hoped that the application process will be digitised and streamlined to make it quicker and easier to apply for and receive technologies.

I hope this gives some updates on the work we are doing. I look forward to the questions from members. If we have the information, I will give it at today's meeting. However, if it the case that we have to go back for further information, we will certainly look at it. I look forward immensely to engaging with members.