Ms Martina Mannion:

I have a couple of things to start off. The Deputy previously raised concerns about SENO vacancies in her area. I reassure her the vacancy in that area has been filled and the SENO is on the ground working there at the minute. To give her some reassurance about our planning, we have opened 14 new classes for children at primary level in Laois in the past three years and in Offaly we have opened 21. At post-primary level, in the past three years we have opened eight special classes in Laois and eight in Offaly. We know what we need to provide at primary and post-primary levels in both of those areas.

On the physical capacity Mr. Loftus talked about, we have been working to try to ensure that if there is space within existing school buildings, that they are, in the first instance, best-placed to be able to immediately take the classes.

This makes sense because the accommodation is then ready. It is all the supports that come after that which are important. I refer to the teachers, training, school transport and all these grants and supports that schools need to have to allow classes to work effectively. This is where we are at now.

Regarding intensive engagement, representatives from special education, the building unit and the NCSE meet weekly. We go through the level of need known to the NCSE county by county and school planning area by school planning area and the detailed planning I referred to that has been ongoing at a strategic level, broken down into school planning areas over the next three years. We then wish to ensure that where a need is known to the NCSE we are not just meeting it but also meeting what we see as the expanded need, those children who will be coming through from primary school and into post-primary schools and who will need placements. Equally, children in primary school may sometimes need special school placements as they get older. We are, therefore, trying to look at this issue across the continuum of support, including the mainstream, special classes and special schools.

All this together, and trying to get early notification out to schools, is what we hope will allow us to achieve earlier reassurance for parents that the classes they need will be available. A key part of this endeavour is having the SENOs on the ground. Another important point to mention is the additional funding secured for the NCSE in budget 2023. I refer to this because we are conscious this is a front-line service and that the number of SENOs on the ground were just not able to get to all the schools and parents. There has, therefore, been a significant investment in the NCSE. This will double its staff, including more SENOs and ancillary supports. We hope this will make a practical difference on the ground for parents and schools in the context of supporting children with special educational needs.