Michael Moynihan (Cork North-West, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputy for the question. This Government is fully committed to supporting children with special educational needs to fulfil their full potential, and the programme for Government makes a number of commitments to deliver on this objective. Up to an additional 2,700 specialist places, made up of 400 new special classes for, on average, six children each, and 300 special school places will be provided for the coming school year 2025-2026. The NCSE has sanctioned more than 375 new special classes to date, and I think the figure could be up to 390. It is engaging intensely with schools and patron bodies to confirm additional classes as soon as possible. Working groups are also progressing the establishment of five new special schools and capacity is being increased in a number of existing special schools, particularly in Cork and Dublin. On top of this, there will be well in excess of 1,200 places available through the normal annual movement of students progressing and graduating. There also remains special classes with vacant places in some areas of the country.

A number of new measures to support the forward planning of special education provision was set out in Circular 0080/2024. These included new measures to address a challenge of the NCSE not knowing about some of the children seeking specialist placements previously. Parents of children with special educational needs seeking specialist placements were asked to notify the NCSE by 1 February. This deadline was extended to mid-February due to the inclement weather at the start of February. The NCSE received 3,275 verified notifications by mid-February. I want to thank all of the parents who notified the NCSE. Through the 2,700 new places being created and the more than 1,200 places in existing special classes and schools, there are close to 4,000 places available for the coming school year.

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