Emer Higgins (Dublin Mid West, Fine Gael)

I am happy to provide a response from my colleague, the Minister for Education and Youth, Deputy Helen McEntee, and to contribute on behalf of the Government to the debate on special education.

As a public representative, I meet many parents of children with additional needs who experience huge challenges in securing appropriate places for their children. They should not have to deal with that level of additional stress in their lives. We need to do more and do better to ensure families have much earlier clarity on school places in their local areas. My colleague, the Minister of State, Deputy Moynihan, has been very clear that this is his number one priority as Minister for special education and inclusion. It is also a key priority for the Minister, Deputy McEntee. Like so many others, I look forward to seeing the progress being made by the Department of Education and Youth and NCSE in working towards delivering new special classes and special school places for the next school year, that is, 2026-27, and having that confirmed by the end of this calendar year. It will be welcome to have clarity much earlier on.

As a Dublin-based TD, I welcome the provision of the 103 new special classes across schools in Dublin this year. That brings the overall number of special classes to 705. I also welcome the significant increase in the provision of special school places for Dublin in this school year. I look forward to the new Lucan Community Special School opening for 30 students in the next month.

I welcome the focus of Department and NCSE on those remaining medium and larger primary and post-primary schools with no or just one special class opening new special classes for the next school year. It is important that all schools play their part when it comes to opening new special classes and that it is not left to some schools to open multiple special classes. We need a geographic spread.

While the Minister of State, Deputy Moynihan, focused on the issue of special classes and school places in his contribution, I will speak to some of the other issues relating to the provision of special education. Ensuring strong delivery of additional school accommodation for special education is a key priority for the Government. In July, the Government announced a capital allocation of €7.556 billion for the Department of Education and Youth for the period 2026 to 2030 under the new national development plan. As part of this NDP allocation, the Department will place a strong emphasis on provision for children with special educational needs, with a particular focus on meeting annual school place needs. We know it is a problem every year.

The Department is preparing an NDP plan which is due for publication later in the autumn. This plan will optimise outputs from the national development plan allocation, with a strong focus on maximising school capacity, progressing priority projects where local capacity across schools in the area is deemed insufficient, and ensuring that what is provided is affordable, provides value for money and meets the functional needs of our children and society.

As Deputies, we constantly hear of the challenges faced by families who have received multiple refusal letters as they apply for admission to special classes or schools for a child with additional needs. We need to make the admissions process much simpler and fairer for families. The earlier confirmation of new special class and school provision will be a key element of this. The Government is committed to introducing a common application procedure for school admissions, and I am happy that the new pilot facilitating a single online application for schools is progressing well.

Families who need a special class place or mainstream place at post-primary level for the next school year, 2026-27, in Athenry, Celbridge, Clonakilty, Greystones, Tullamore and Killina will be able to apply online using a single application form as part of a pilot project to streamline the admissions process. This pilot is a first step towards a national common application system. It will be a game-changer for families, especially those who have children with special educational needs. A separate trial across primary schools, supported by the NCSE, is happening in Dublin 15 for admission to special classes and is continuing for the next school year. I understand more schools have now joined the pilot. I encourage all schools in Dublin 15 with special classes to join the pilot.

The Minister, Deputy McEntee, and the Minister of State, Deputy Moynihan, are very keen to see the additional funding and staffing allocated to the NCSE result in improved support for parents and schools at local level. Following the provision of an additional €30 million in 2023, the expansion of the service in the NCSE has undergone transformational change. This commenced with a workforce planning study which examined the various roles and responsibilities in the organisation. Based on this, the NCSE carried out structural changes, including an increase, from 73 to 120, in the number of special educational needs organisers, SENOs, recruited by the NCSE. They are now operating on a county basis, which has allowed for an integrated community-based service conducive to the development of key relationships between NCSE staff, parents and schools when it comes to the provision of services for children and students.

I am really happy to see that there are 27 SENOs and 14 managers working across Dublin to support parents and schools. The sole role of special education teachers and special needs assistants allocated to schools is to support students with special educational needs. For the start of this school year, close to 21,000 special education teachers and over 23,000 SNAs have been allocated to our schools. This represents a 23% increase in special education teacher numbers and a 43% increase in SNA numbers since 2020. Some 15,000 of these special education teachers work to support students attending mainstream classes. The Minister, Deputy McEntee, and the Minister of State, Deputy Moynihan, are committed to securing additional funding for further teacher and SNA supports for students in the upcoming budget.

One programme and support much welcomed by the parents of children with complex special education needs is the summer programme. I am happy to report this important programme continued to expand, with a 52% increase in school participation since 2022. Over 1,900 schools took part in the programme this summer. I was delighted to visit one in my local area and see the fantastic work being done with children. A number of these initiatives, funding measures and supports are ensuring the continued growth and expansion of this programme. For example, the hot school meals programme, which was introduced this year, supports schools running the summer programme.

One of the most eagerly anticipated developments in the area of special education is the plan to develop a new education therapy service for schools. Many Deputies referred to it today. The new service being developed by the Department of education and the NCSE will commence in special schools and will subsequently extend to schools with special classes and mainstream provision. It is intended this new service will be rolled out on a phased basis in some special schools at a later stage in this 2025-2026 school year, with a wider roll-out for the next school of 2026-2027. It is expected that the recruitment of therapists for this service will be initiated in the coming months of quarter four of this year. I know this new service when introduced will have the potential to have a really positive impact on the lives of children and young people with special educational needs and their families. I look forward to tracking the progress being made in the development of this important new service.

In conclusion, while I fully appreciate the valid frustrations outlined here, I do not believe the motion from the Opposition takes account of the progress made to date and the ongoing commitment of the Department of education and the NCSE, which are working with schools to deliver an education system of the highest quality, one where every child and young person feels valued and is actively supported and nurtured to reach their full potential. The Minister of State, Deputy Moynihan, provided a detailed update in his contribution on the special education places for this school year and the work under way in terms of forward planning for the next school year also.

We have so much work to do to address the challenges facing the parents of children with additional needs and those children themselves. I think the earlier confirmation of new special classes and special schools will be key to ensuring that parents of children with additional needs can expect to have clarity when it comes to school places at the same time as parents of children attending mainstream schools. All of us in this Chamber will be monitoring the progress being made on the common application trial and the development of the new education therapy service. I ask Members to continue to monitor this and to continue to look at and advocate for this issue, as so many people did here so passionately tonight. I ask the House to support the Government's countermotion.

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