Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The Government's aim is to ensure that every child, especially those with special educational needs, can fulfil his or her potential and avail of all of the educational opportunities available to him or her. During the worst years of the recession when public spending was cut across the board, it was one of the areas which was protected from spending reductions. In fact, resources grew throughout the recession and continue to do so.

The Department targets policies and supports for students with special educational needs to support their participation and progression across the continuum of education. For example, last year the Department of Education and Skills invested €1.78 billion in the special education budget, which is now almost a fifth of the entire education budget and is more than we invest in higher education. There has been a 44% increase since 2011, when the change of Government occurred.

The number of special needs assistants increased during the same period by 32%, from 10,575 to 13,990. As I said, we now have more special needs assistants in the country than we have gardaí or doctors. The number of special classes has also increased by 120%, with over 600 new special classes opened since 2011. We now have 1,100 special classes. The new model for allocating resource teachers to schools has been successfully introduced, with 900 additional teachers allocated from September last year to support the model and ensure that children with special needs can access the teaching supports they need.

That is a reflection of the enormous needs that exist in our community but also of the Government's very large and robust response.

I understand that Scoil Aonghusa has applied for major capital funding for the provision of 12 new classrooms, a general purpose hall and additional ASD facilities, together with improvements to mechanical and electrical services. The application is currently being considered by the Department of Education and Skills. Arrangements are being made by the Department to carry out a technical site visit in the near future in order to assess the existing accommodation and how best to provide the accommodation required to meet the long-term needs of this particular school. I will ask the Minister for Education and Skills, Deputy Bruton, to update Deputy Lowry once the site visit has taken place.

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