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

I thank the Deputy for his question. The matter of special needs is very important and I know that, as a former Minister for Education, the Deputy has had a real and genuine interest in that area down the years. All of us in this House are very aware of the struggles that many parents face in trying to ensure that their children receive the special education they need. While I do not want to comment on any individual case or family, the Minister for Education and Skills has committed to examining the particular case of Kyle and Ryan to see if there is anything more that can be done more quickly for them and their family.

When it comes to special education, there are essentially three options: a place in a special class in a mainstream school; a place in a special school; or home tuition. Sometimes those options do not work out and different options have to be tried but those three options are available. As I think people will want to acknowledge in the interests of fairness and accuracy, the truth is that in the round, children with special educational needs are being prioritised. There has been a huge investment in special education in recent years. The budget for special education is nearly €2 billion, with €1 in every €5 that we spend on education now spent assisting children with special educational needs. That is as much as we invest in higher education. It is a big change from five or ten years ago and shows how much we are prioritising special needs and special education. There are 10,000 children now in special classes, three times as many as there were in 2011. There has been a real ramping up and improvement in the provision of special places and special classes. There are now 15,000 special needs assistants, SNAs, in our schools. There are as many SNAs in the country as there are gardaí, even though the number of gardaí is going up as well. That is a dramatic improvement on where we were eight years ago. There are 13,000 special teachers. This is an area that is being invested in and prioritised. We are in a much better place than we were eight years ago. However, there are plenty of individual cases and plenty of families who are not getting the support they need and deserve. We will continue to work on those cases as best we can.

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