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

I thank the Deputy for the question. This is something that the Minister, Deputy Humphreys, and Senator Joe O'Reilly have brought to my attention as well. Deputy Carthy is correct when he says there is no special school at present in County Monaghan. He mentioned the special school in County Cavan, which I understand is full. However, there are several special schools in the environs of Monaghan. From my conversations with the CEO of the NCSE, John Kearney, I am assured that provision will be made for all children who require a special school place for September of this year. In regard to the following years, the forward planning we have put in place over recent years tells the NCSE where a child needs a place, whether that is a school place or a special class, not just in Monaghan but throughout the country.

We have made huge progress in the number of special schools we are creating. We now have 130 special schools in the country. Two special schools have been established for the current school year in Cork and Dublin, with further capacity being expanded in other special schools throughout the country. We have 3,000 special classes in total, of which 1,300 were sanctioned this year. We have also opened seven new special schools over the past four years. We are doing a huge amount of work in that regard. The budget we have is €2.7 billion. It is important we put that funding into making sure every child with an additional need has an appropriate placement. Some 97% of them are in mainstream classes. That is not to say there is not a need overall in Monaghan. The question of where special schools are needed, where the capacity is, where the demand is and where they should be located is consistently under the control of and under review by the NCSE. There is a progressive demand. I believe the NCSE would accept that. In 2023, some 0.55% of the population - less than 1% - required a special school place. The projected figure for 2025 is 0.64%. There is a definite upward trend. That is not just in County Monaghan. It is throughout the country. Some of that, although not all, is due to the exponential growth in autism, which is seen not just in Ireland but internationally.

The Deputy mentioned the word "reassure". I can reassure him that there will be existing provision and that we will meet the demand for 2024. I can tell him today that a special school is being considered by the NCSE for north Monaghan in terms of autism and complex needs. It is really important to me as Minister of State with responsibility for special education and inclusion that I liaise closely with the NCSE and that I know what is happening on the ground. We gave the NCSE an extra €113 million last year. It will be able to employ 160 new staff. We had SENOs, but not in sufficient numbers. They were completely overwhelmed and overloaded. There will now be more SENOs. They will be able to liaise directly with parents in a better way than before and, in turn, communicate those needs to the NCSE. In that way, they will be able to find the appropriate school placements that are being sought by parents

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