Michael Moynihan (Cork North-West, Fianna Fail)

I thank the Deputy for his question and Deputy McAuliffe for his interest in this matter. I thank both Deputies for their continuing interest in education. It is hugely important that it is brought to the fore in the House. Education is a hugely important part of everyone's life, so it is hugely important that we strive to get it right.

The National Council for Special Education, NCSE, is the statutory agency with responsibility for the provision of special education places. As I alluded to earlier this morning, there are over 407 new special classes sanctioned for the coming school year. The NCSE does not hold information on special education provision broken down by constituency, but I can say there are 103 new special classes sanctioned for the 2025-26 school year across Dublin, including 81 at primary and 22 at post-primary level. An updated list of these classes is available on the NCSE website, and I am also happy to share this information with the House and the Deputy. Combined with the 300 new special school places, this brings to 2,700 the number of new school places for children with special educational needs.

This additional capacity, together with the movement of children across existing classes, means that the Department and the NCSE have created more capacity than children known to the NCSE by the deadline of February 2025. The NCSE has advised me that outside of Dublin, all children known to it by the February deadline who required a special class placement at primary and post-primary level have received a place. For a small number of children in the Dublin area who are seeking a special class or special school placement, the NCSE is working intensively with the parents and schools concerned to finalise the arrangements.

On the specific issue the Deputy raised, of the special classes that have been sanctioned, over 80% involve a reconfiguration of existing capacity within school buildings. We have sanctioned 407 in total, and it is hoped they will all open. However, I will get the information the Deputy requested to him as a matter of urgency.

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