Josepha Madigan (Dublin Rathdown, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank Deputy Andrews for his query. We issued 39 notices to various schools under section 37A of the Education Act because it is important where there is a dearth of places in a particular area, and I am aware of the issues in Dublin 4 and Dublin 6. With regard to these 39 schools, two notices were issued and we are now in the process of looking through the submissions. On-site inspections take place regularly to collaborate with the schools and see whether we can expand an existing school. One of the very first things I managed to secure as the first dedicated Minister of State with responsibility for special education and inclusion was a commitment from the building unit in the Department that every new school built from here on in will automatically provide ASD units and special class places. We do not want to have this situation on a perennial basis. The NCSE is developing a five-year forecasting model to ensure we have the data about which the Deputy spoke so we can establish where there is a lack of places.

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