Hildegarde Naughton (Galway West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputy for his question. I am aware many parents are concerned about where their children will be in September. To reassure the Deputy, the Department is spending one third of the education budget on special education. This September, we have 400 new special classes coming onstream. Of those, 300 are already allocated and a further 100 locations are being identified by the Department of Education, working closely with boards of management and schools. I appreciate the pressure parents are under. I am in constant contact with the Department and National Council for Special Education, NCSE. I would like to see a system where parents get advance notice and are not waiting so long. We are ramping up resources around the NCSE, putting special educational needs organisers, SENOs, on the ground, working directly with parents and schools and ensuring they are visible on the ground. That is why we are increasing the number of SENOs from 70-odd to 120 and they will all be in place by the end of August.

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