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

I thank the Deputy for raising this important issue, which I know is causing a lot of angst and worry to families throughout the State, including in my constituency of Dublin West. I have read the Ombudsman's report. The Government accepts the criticisms being made. We are committed to ensuring that every single child with special educational needs has access to education. One child who does not have a school place is one child too many in our view. We are prioritising children who have special educational needs. We have a dedicated Minister of State for special education for the first time and €1 in every €4 spent on education is spent on children with special needs. We have more special needs assistants, special education teachers and more special classrooms in mainstream schools than ever before. We have new special schools in Dublin 15 and in Cork. I absolutely appreciate this is cold comfort, indeed no comfort at all, to families and children who do not have a place for September. Every day that goes by they get more and more worried about what will happen in September when they need a school place.

I know the Minister of State is redoubling her efforts with the Department to make sure this is sorted out in the next few weeks so that parents have peace of mind that their child will have a place in school in September. This is absolutely what we are working towards. I am not aware of any plans at present for special legislation on this but I will take on board the Deputy's offer of full co-operation from Sinn Féin should it be required. As I mentioned, this year we will spend in excess of €2 billion, 25% of the Department's budget, on special needs. This is a 60% increase over the past ten years. Budget 2022 provided for the creation of 287 additional special classes for the school year. These will provide 1,700 new places from September next. This is a very significant increase in places. The difficulty is that the projection has been exceeded and 1,800 additional places in 312 special classes will be needed in 2022.

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