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

I thank the Deputy for the question. As the Minister of State with responsibility for special education, me, the Department and the National Council for Special Education, NCSE, are seized in making sure every child with an additional need has an appropriate placement in whatever school that is. The Deputy will be aware that the NCSE has primary responsibility for coordinating and advising on the education provision for children with additional needs. He will also be aware that decisions on the admission of all children to school, including children with additional needs, are a matter for each school in accordance with their published admission policy. Last year, we brought in the Education (Provision in Respect of Children with Special Educational Needs) Act 2022. The main focus of that Act was around the Section 37A process. There were also a number of other provisions pertinent to the Deputy's question, which included providing additional duties on schools, patrons and boards of management to cooperate with the NCSE in relation to making additional provision for children with special educational needs, SEN. This is aimed at ensuring all schools take a child-centred approach and are open to accommodating children with special educational needs.

The new legislation also provides for a potential additional function for the NCSE to manage and coordinate admission to school for children with SEN in cooperation with parents and schools, where necessary. This provision may be somewhat aligned to the aim of the central application system referred to by the Deputy. This new function can be used to support parents and schools in specific locations where there is high demand for special class places. This would involve the NCSE engaging with schools and parents to agree a process for managing the admissions process. It is hoped that this could potentially reduce the need for schools to have to consider a large number of applications for a small number of available special class places. It could assist parents who currently may apply to a large number of schools seeking a special class place for a child with a special educational need.

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