Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

---- which deserves to be treated with the seriousness with which the question is asked. Of course education is a vitally important issue. The Deputy is right to highlight that there are some challenges and pinch points in respect of recruitment that I want to deal with directly. We need to remind ourselves again that the vast majority of allocated teaching posts are of course filled. There are more teachers than ever before working in the Irish education system. In March of this year, there were 78,646 teachers employed. We see on average in teaching less than 1% resignations and less than 2% of retirements annually. The teacher allocation ratio in primary schools, which I know we all view as really important, is now at the lowest it has ever been. That certainly makes a difference for our youngest kids as they start their formal education journey. There was an increase of 30.3% in the number of teaching posts allocated to primary schools between the 2017-18 and 2023-24 school years. Enrolments at primary level are projected to decline until 2036. That is the way the demographic bubble is moving in Ireland. A teacher projections report is due to be published quite shortly.

The Deputy is right, though, and we cannot wish away some of the challenges that exist here. There are areas of high demand. Indeed, I live in an area where there has been significant growth in population. As a result, we have been working really hard to try to expand school capacity. Since this Government came into office in 2020, we have invested about €4.5 billion in schools throughout the country and have seen around 800 school building projects completed and 300 other projects under construction. When it comes to special educational needs, it is not just a question of resources. I can stand here and tell the Deputy quite honestly that it is the largest special needs education budget ever. That is true. The Minister of State, Deputy Naughton, is working really hard on this. As she knows and as I agree, it also requires reform. It requires much better and more advanced planning, particularly when it comes to second level education for children with special educational needs. Only in the last week or so, the Minister has sanctioned five additional special schools for next year, one in Cork, I think, two in Dublin, one in Monaghan and one in Tipperary. We have given funding for 120 additional special educational needs organisers, SENOs, to have them on the ground. These are the eyes and ears who can often feed back and bring people together. They should also be the contact point for the parent, instead of a parent having to go around lots of different schools to try to find a place. There is now a forward planning structure in place in the Department of Education. There could well be merit in the Deputy's suggestion of a task force. The Minister of State, Deputy Naughton, has just established a task force for special educational needs in Dublin 15. I think it has its first meeting today. Perhaps that could be a model we could build on in terms of the rest of the country. I am happy to work constructively with the Deputy on this. I am conscious of the anxiety it causes. We generally get to a place where a place is found for every child but that is not to take away from the stress and strain of a child not knowing which school they are going to, or if their friends are going somewhere else. We need to do better on the forward planning piece and the task force idea could be a constructive suggestion in relation to that.

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