Norma Foley (Kerry, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I will tell the Deputy all that is available to me at present, but I will say that I will engage with him again if there is something missing. I will ask for a further update.

The school referred to by the Deputy was approved to enter the Department’s pipeline of school building projects under the additional school accommodation scheme. The project will provide a two-class special education base, two mainstream classrooms, and a technical graphics room. The project has been devolved for delivery to the school authority.

The school referred to already operates one special class and the Department recently granted approval to construction of a special educational needs modular classroom, which is expected to reach practical completion later this year. This additional accommodation will help alleviate the immediate enrolment pressures on the school pending the delivery of the larger additional school accommodation project, which provides a two-class special educational needs base.

The school appointed a design team to progress the larger traditional ASA project through the various stages of architectural design, planning, procurement and construction. The Department’s professional and technical officials recently reviewed the design team’s stage 2B post-planning approval architectural cost report and requested further information on that. Once that information has been submitted, the Department will complete its review of this stage of the project.

The provision of accommodation for children with special educational needs is at the heart of our priorities and is a core driver of investment plans. The National Council for Special Education has responsibility for planning and co-ordinating school supports for children with special educational needs. In recent years, the Department and the NCSE have introduced a number of strategic initiatives to plan for and provide sufficient special class and special school places. These initiatives are bearing fruit, with almost 1,700 new special classes sanctioned and seven new special schools established in recent years, and a further four opening in September. More than 320 new special classes have been sanctioned by the NCSE nationwide for the 2024-25 school year. Eleven of these 11 are in County Louth. This means there are now more than 3,000 special classes in our education system.

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