Thomas Byrne (Meath East, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I very much thank the Deputy for raising this issue. I am glad the Minister of State with responsibility for disability, Deputy Rabbitte, is present to listen to his comments. There was not much we disagreed with on the substance of his points, quite frankly. In fairness to the Minister of State, Deputy Madigan, there was not much she would disagree with either. The bottom line is no decision has been made about this. I apologise on behalf of the Minister of State that she is not present. She is attending the Middletown Centre for Autism today, which is another place that does essential work on a North-South basis. It is very important to remember that.

Enabling children with special educational needs to receive an education appropriate to their needs is a constitutional right and a priority for this Government. This year, the Department of Education will invest €2 billion, or more than 25% of its budget, in the area of special educational needs support. The truth is the number of special education teachers, special needs assistants, SNAs, special classes and school places are all at unprecedented levels. In budget 2022, we provided for the creation of 287 additional special classes. There are many more special classes then there were. I accept there are not enough but there are a lot more and significant progress has been made. I thank those schools that have co-operated with the Department in looking for these classes, which will provide 1,700 new places this year. That brings the total number of special classes to 2,435. In 2011, there were 548 special classes in mainstream schools and there are 2,148 in this particular school year.

The Department of Education recognises some of the difficulties experienced by parents in securing appropriate school placements, which is of major concern to all of us, including the Minister of State, Deputy Rabbitte, and myself. Certainly, in my former role it was a major priority. I am very proud to be the person, on behalf of my party, who put forward the legislation to allow the Minister to force schools to open classes. That was a very important issue for me. I am very passionate about it, as is this Government. I do not think there is any doubt about that. The streamlining process, joined-up planning process and forecasting process, which was not there but is now, is allowing us to be more targeted in meeting the demand for special needs placements ahead of each school year. The approach is starting to deliver because we have seen 300 special classes providing 1,800 places since the start of this year. The National Council for Special Education, NCSE, has responsibility for co-ordinating and advising on the education provision for children with special educational needs. It has well-established structures in place for engaging with schools and parents.

The Department of Education recognises that where parents have difficulties in securing an appropriate school placement for their child, particularly a child with additional needs, it can be, and is, a stressful experience. We all know that from talking to the constituents who come to us. The Department is working hard to ensure there are sufficient school places, appropriate to the needs of all children, available on a timely basis nationwide. As I said, this is a constitutional right that has to be put in place for children.

In line with the demographics and as part of forward planning, it is envisaged that special classes will be required at most, if not all, post-primary schools in Dublin. A range of measures to meet additional special education needs capacity demands have already been put in place, including the utilisation of spare capacity in existing schools and the delivery of additional capacity within the scope of existing school building projects. Additionally, it is now general practice to include a special educational needs base in the accommodation brief for new school buildings unless there are exceptional local circumstances. However, the extent of provision made at these schools is informed by the level of demand in the area as well as the size of the school.

The NCSE is currently engaged in a process of establishing new classes for next year and beyond.

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