Richard Bruton (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputies for raising this important matter. It is an area in which huge investment has been made in my own time and, to be fair, in that of my predecessors. Since 2011, as Deputy Burton will know, we have increased spending on the support of children with special needs by 43%. It has risen consistently, therefore, even in the most difficult times, to €1.8 billion. It is a provision that is based entirely on the assessment of need, that is, not on any budgetary restrictions. Based on a professional assessment, the NCSE decides how children with ASD should best be provided for.

I do not have the figures with me but, roughly speaking, more than 60% are provided for in mainstream classes. The remainder are split evenly between ASD special classes within mainstream schools and special schools. In recent years, however, because of the advice that the inclusion model is the optimal model, the expansion and explosion of provision has been in special classes. The number of special classes has trebled since 2011 and continues to grow every year. It is the NCSE that advises me and the building units of my Department as to the appropriate need. There have not been many additional special schools. I am not aware of any new special school being created in recent times but that is not to say that it cannot be, if the NCSE believes that is the best approach.

The main expansion has been the effort to integrate children with ASD within units in mainstream schools. That is better for their development. If the NCSE advises that a special school would be an alternative placement, then the NCSE, through its special education needs organisers, SENOs, would seek an appropriate placement. The decision has to be made on additional provision year by year. One new power, of which the Deputies will be aware, that we took in the recent Education (Admission to Schools) Bill 2016 was to give me the power, in certain circumstances and on the advice of the NCSE, to require a school to open an ASD unit where a school may be reluctant to do so.

Deputy Burton is right. There are 18 special ASD units in the area. There will be a need for additional units and we are providing in the 2019 budget for additional ASD classes to be opened throughout the country in areas where they are identified as being needed. I am sure Dublin 15 would be an area where that would be the case. I am not, however, the one who makes the call as to whether a placement for a particular child is best in a special school, a special class or in a mainstream setting. In any event, we provide support, as Deputy Burton knows. In my own relatively short period in the Department, we have appointed 1,800 additional resource teachers and 4,000 additional SNAs to support the integration of children into our school system. We will provide the best support advised by the NCSE and based on the individual assessments of each child. That is what we seek to deliver.

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