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

I thank the Deputy. Enabling students with additional needs to receive an education appropriate to their needs is an ongoing priority for me as Minister of State with responsibility for special education. It is a priority to ensure all children have an appropriate school placement and that the necessary supports are provided to our schools to cater for the needs of children with special educational needs. As the Deputy will be aware, the Department provides an extensive range of supports for pupils with specific speech and language disorder, SSLD. This includes provision for the establishment of special classes for pupils with SSLD in primary schools. There is currently a total of 63 SSLD special classes in mainstream primary schools nationally and they have a teacher-student ratio of 1:7.

The HSE provides speech and language therapy to the students in these classes and, therefore, the opening and retention of an SSLD class is contingent on the availability of HSE resources. For this reason, close engagement and co-ordination occurs among stakeholders at a local level. This issue was raised with me in Galway and I spoke to my colleague the Minister of State, Deputy Rabbitte, about the school and the HSE meeting to resolve it. It is critical that it be resolved.

I can confirm the HSE’s local team and school management met yesterday. The purpose of the meeting, which was supported by the National Council for Special Education, NCSE, was to allow both the school and the HSE to talk through the issues with a view to working towards reinstating the class for the coming school year. The NCSE has advised the Department that this was a constructive meeting and that all parties are willing to work to ensure the class remains in operation for the coming school year. A further meeting is being planned between all parties. The NCSE will continue to support the school and the HSE to progress matters, particularly in respect of the review of applications for admission to the class. The class has been in operation since 1995 and I hope it can continue to provide much-needed supports for students of the local area. I acknowledge the many years of support provided by both the school staff and the local HSE speech and language therapists for students accessing this class over almost three decades.

In the context of the provision of special education places more broadly, I understand this is an anxious time for parents who are seeking a school place for their child for September and I assure the Deputy and parents that the Government and I are determined to alleviate the pressures faced by parents when seeking a special educational placement.

My Department engages intensely with the NCSE in respect of the forward planning of new special classes and additional special school places. More than 320 special classes have already been sanctioned for the 2024-25 school year. Of these, 19 are located in County Galway. The NCSE continues to sanction some additional classes nationwide for the coming school year. As these classes are sanctioned, the NCSE will support families to make applications for places. I have asked the NCSE to ensure that classes are established as a matter of urgency and to keep all the families seeking class places updated on an ongoing basis to ensure their children can access the provision to which they are entitled.

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