Ms Martina Mannion:

The Department is committed to ensuring that every child has access to an appropriate placement to meet their educational needs. As the Deputy will be aware, the vast bulk of children in our school system are educated in the mainstream system, with access to special education teaching supports and SNAs. Approximately 1% of our children attend special schools, and another 1% are in special classes. The Deputy mentioned the Cork area. There are 244 special classes for children with ASD at primary level and 99 special classes for children at post-primary level in County Cork. That is a total of 343 special classes in the county. As my colleague, Mr. O'Leary, mentioned, we will have almost 2,500 special classes by the end of the year. In the context of setting out how we are supporting children, it is important to highlight that we have made significant investment in special education in recent years. There has been a fivefold increase in the number of special classes in the past decade. There are almost 19,000 SNAs in the system.

With regard to County Cork in particular, as the Deputy will be aware, we have opened one new special school in Carrigaline under the patronage of the education and training board, ETB. Another new special school will be opened in Rochestown later this year. The Deputy mentioned the challenges in south County Dublin, in particular. While there are challenges, overall, the development of special classes and special school provision across the country is going a significant way towards meeting the needs of children with special educational needs. Of course, we are conscious that we need to do more. The Deputy mentioned County Dublin. It might interest him to know that there are almost 336 special classes at primary level in County Dublin in 43% of all of the schools in the area. At post-primary level, almost 45% of the schools in the county have special classes. The number has significantly increased this year, notwithstanding that challenges remain in a small number of places. We are working closely with schools to ensure that we can deliver those places for September 2022.

The Deputy also made reference to the passing of legislation. We are grateful that the Dáil passed legislation relating to section 37A of the Education Act 1998 yesterday. The provision allows the Department and the Minister to have faster access to special classes, which is in the best interest of children with special educational needs. The Minister of State, Deputy Madigan, announced in May that for the third time, the process was being recommenced to allow for the delivery of extra special classes in the Dublin area.

On the issue of SNAs, as the Deputy will be aware, there are more than 19,000 SNAs-----