Emer Higgins (Dublin Mid West, Fine Gael)

I, too, agree with the need for a new process. Every year for countless years, we have had parents at the last minute not knowing where their children are going to school. This is about reducing, as much as possible, that stress, strain and uncertainty. We now have the information as of 1 October. The NCSE is working hard to collate, process and map that out to figure out the schools that may have physical capacity to take on additional classrooms and where we might be able to put in additional special schools.

It was great to see the sod turned for a new building for St. Catherine’s Special School in the Deputy’s constituency earlier this week. These projects are happening around the country.

The information is needed to be able to inform the strategy of the areas where those projects are needed the most. I will absolutely take it up directly with the NCSE as to why more information is not available for parents on its website, particularly for parents who missed that 1 October deadline because they missed it through no fault of their own; they were waiting for an assessment. I will absolutely do that.

While I am sure it will be written into the Dáil record, the Deputy should have information specific to Wicklow because this Topical Issue was originally to discuss special education in Wicklow. There are 132 special classes now in operation, providing capacity for 800 students. That includes 12 special classes for this year. That means the number of classes in County Wicklow has almost doubled in the past five years. The earlier notification system will help us when it comes to continuing to roll out new special schools and new special classes across the country.

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