Norma Foley (Kerry, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputy again for raising this issue and for the opportunity to reassure the House that the Department is committed to ensuring that all children can access an education suitable to their needs.

Planning is actively under way to ensure that children without a placement for next year are provided with a suitable replacement. The NCSE is leading work in this regard. I reassure the Deputy that the Department will continue to support the NCSE and schools through the provision of necessary funding and capital investment to ensure all children are successful in accessing an education.

Considerable work is undertaken with schools on the ground and this has proven successful, notwithstanding the issues the Deputy has raised and the need to continue to engage with schools in this respect. I want to again emphasise that there is a huge commitment from the point of view of the Department to accelerate provision of school places and special schools. Considerable progress has been made in this very short time span since the formation of this Government. It is a significant recognition that almost 25% of the budget now is being expended on special education and rightly so. Beyond that, specific interventions, for example, budget 2021, provided an additional 990 SNAs and this resulted in more than 18,000 SNAs being allocated to schools by the end of December in 2021. Budget 2022 then provides funding for an additional 1,165 SNAs to provide support to children with special education needs, which will bring the total number of SNAs in this country to more than 19,169 at the end of December 2022. As I said, provision for 19,169 SNAs at the end of the year will represent an increase of 81% since 2011, at which time 10,575 SNAs were provided for.

Budget 2021 also provided for an additional 145 special educational teachers, bringing the provision to 13,765. Budget 2022 provides for the creation of additional 980 new teaching posts in special education. This new investment is required to meet the needs of students with special educational needs. The point is that there is an ongoing commitment to address the issues that arise in staffing and supports for students, as well as the provision of places for students with additional needs.

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