Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire (Cork South Central, Sinn Fein)
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55. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if she will provide an update on the parts of the country where there are inadequate numbers of spaces in special classes and special schools; if she and the NCSE are aware of the number of children that will currently not have a place for next September in such locations; and the actions she and the NCSE intend to take on foot of this, including if she intends to use her powers under section 37A or any other parts of legislation. [14325/23]

Pauline Tully (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein)
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Will the Minister of State provide an update on the parts of the country where there is an inadequate number of spaces in special classes and special schools? Is the Department or the National Council for Special Education, NCSE, aware of how many children do not have a place for next September in these locations? What actions do the Department and the NCSE intend to take on foot of this? Does the Minister of State plan to use her powers under section 37A or any other legislation?

Josepha Madigan (Dublin Rathdown, Fine Gael)
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The work is ongoing with the NCSE and the Department. There has been intense engagement with schools throughout the country to ensure that no child with an additional need will be left without an appropriate placement in September. A huge amount of work is being done on that. There has been an intense focus on forward planning in recent years, particularly around a detailed review of statistical data to ensure we can forecast demand for special classes throughout the country. We are looking at existing school accommodation and capacity to see if they are sufficient, rather than having to add on to existing accommodation. We are looking at improved data-sharing arrangements, particularly around post-primary education as traditionally there has been a gap between the places available at primary level and post-primary level when children transition to post-primary and we find there are not sufficient places. There is a major focus on that issue.

The Department and the NCSE met post-primary management bodies last week to share a list of schools that could potentially open special classes in September 2023. The NCSE is now engaging with those schools. We have also written to all post-primary schools indicating that we will ask them to open special classes over the coming years. We will need to double the number of special classes available at post-primary level over the next three years. At present, we have 2,544 special classes, of which 1,802 are at primary level and about 742 are at post-primary level.

Therefore, we do need the same level at post primary as we have at primary. There is a lot of focus in relation to that. In the Deputy's constituency of Cavan-Monaghan, there are 86 special classes at present, 12 of which are new special classes that opened this year.

Pauline Tully (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein)
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Many children with special educational needs are still without school places. Planning and forecasting needs to be done to ensure no child is left behind. The Minister of State mentioned my constituency. I was contacted by a parent who attempted to enrol her five-year-old child in her local school, where there are three autism classes, but she was told there is a waiting list and that no places are available. The child's siblings are already in the school, one of whom is availing of one of these classes. The principal told the parent that she should consider homeschooling. She has attempted to enrol her child in other schools in the neighbourhood that have autism classes, however, they are all full and have waiting lists. One school has a waiting list of ten, which means ten children are without a school place. Another parent tried to enrol her child in a secondary school a year in advance but was told there were no places a year ahead.

I have informed the National Council For Special Education, NCSE, about these cases and I hope they can be resolved. We are still five months from the new school year and we do not want to find ourselves in the same position as we were in last year when many children were without school places. I hope that situation can be avoided.

Josepha Madigan (Dublin Rathdown, Fine Gael)
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As I said, in Cavan-Monaghan there are 86 special classes, 12 of which are new special classes that opened this year, one special school and nine early intervention classes. This is not to say that new special classes will not be opened for September 2023. I am glad the Deputy has notified the NCSE directly in respect of the children she mentioned. These children need to be known to the NCSE in order for them to get a place.

At local level, in more general terms, the NCSE is continuing to engage with schools in regard to additional special classes. Every support will be given to schools to progress the opening of special classes in the shortest possible timeframe. It is expected that the NCSE will confirm where new special classes at primary and post primary will be sanctioned over the coming weeks, in keeping with timelines in previous years.

Pauline Tully (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein)
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We need special classes in special schools to be open in each area. Part of my question was whether the Minister of State was aware of the locations in different parts of the country where there is an inadequate number of places. One piece of correspondence that was brought to the attention of the Joint Committee on Autism stated that Naas has a population of 22,000 and has only three autism classes in the whole town. One parent from Naas travels 100 km every day to bring her child to a special class in a school in County Wicklow. There is another case in County Kildare where a special is not accepting any new applicants for the second year running. I know of a student in that situation who has very complex and profound disabilities, is non-verbal and has a heart condition and needs access to a special school but does not have such access. Her mother also has a condition and is not in a position to homeschool or care for her child at home. This is an example of a child progressing from primary to secondary school. The Department and the NCSE should be aware of children in such situations and ensure they are prioritised and have a school place come September. That is extremely important.

Josepha Madigan (Dublin Rathdown, Fine Gael)
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I concur with the Deputy; it is extremely important. There is a particular focus on large urban areas where demand is highest. For example, we opened 94 new classes in Dublin; 65 in Cork; 23 in Limerick; and 24 in Meath. It is important to put into context that about 92% of the classes we have opened over the past three years have been for autistic children. The autistic prevalence rate we were using before was 1.55%. We now estimate that rate to be at least 3.11% and this is contributing to the increase in demand, apart from demographic increases and other matters like that. This is not to say that the NCSE should not support the demand. For this reason, we increased the funding for the NCSE by €13 million in last year's budget to allow for the hiring of an additional 160 staff, which will help in terms of extra special educational needs organisers, SENOs, and communication with schools and parents, in particular, so that they will know as soon as possible when their child will get an appropriate placement for the following year.