Roderic O'Gorman (Dublin West, Green Party)
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82. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if children attending a school (details supplied) who have applied for a place in a special school and have a letter from the NCSE that they are entitled to such a place will get a place in one of the two new autism classes being established in the school; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [40455/25]

Roderic O'Gorman (Dublin West, Green Party)
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Two weeks ago, parents of children who attend St. Mochta's National School in Clonsilla who have diagnoses and who have been approved for a place in an autism class were shocked to find out that, even though the school is opening two autism classes, none of their children was being offered a place. I have met the parents and the school leadership, as have other Deputies. A lot of work has gone on in the background on this matter. I hope the Minister of State has some good news for the school, the parents, the school leadership and particularly for six young children in Clonsilla.

Michael Moynihan (Cork North-West, Fianna Fail)
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I thank the Deputy very much for the question. The National Council for Special Education is the statutory agency with responsibility for the provision of special education places. The National Council for Special Education has sanctioned 407 new special classes for the coming year, bringing the total number of special classes in our schools to 3,742. Combined with 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 required for the children known to the NCSE by the deadline of February 2025.

The NCSE has advised me that, outside of Dublin, all children known to them by the February deadline who required a special class placement at primary and post-primary level had received places. With regard to 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 arrangements for the 2025-26 school year. In addition, the NCSE is working closely with parents who came forward post the February deadline to support their children into available placements.

Notwithstanding this positive work, the Deputy will be aware of the ongoing challenges in securing sufficient special class places in the Dublin area. Legislation compelling schools to open special classes where they had capacity to do so was introduced in 2018 and has been used in the Dublin area. Since then, the legislation has been streamlined to allow for shorter timeframes in which to compel schools to open the required classes and this has been a factor in the NCSE’s ability to secure agreement from schools to co-operate when asked to open special classes.

For the 2024-25 school year, the NCSE prioritised opening classes in medium or larger primary schools that had not yet opened a class. I will refer to the specific school the Deputy mentioned in my supplementary reply, if that is okay.

Roderic O'Gorman (Dublin West, Green Party)
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The Minister of State knows how to build the tension. He has given us some general points but we are still on tenterhooks as to what is happening in this particular school. I believe the Minister of State has a little bit more to say, so I will allow him to complete his answer.

Michael Moynihan (Cork North-West, Fianna Fail)
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The NCSE is working intensively with the parents and schools concerned. The school the Deputy has referred to is one such school. The NCSE engaged with the school to secure agreement to open classes. The NCSE visited the school in September 2024 and, with the support of the school patron body, it worked to sanction two classes.

We can now confirm that the issues that were the subject of the Deputy's representation and those of others over recent weeks have been resolved for the school. It is my very clear understanding that all children, particularly those from within the school cohort, have now been placed within the school. I understand that agreement has been reached between the Department, the NCSE and the school authorities to that effect.

Roderic O'Gorman (Dublin West, Green Party)
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I thank the Minister of State. I welcome that clarification. He spoke about intensive work having taken place around the country to support the opening of new classes. I know very intensive work took place between parents, the school leadership team, the principal, the deputy principal and the chair of the board of management over the last two weeks. I have met parents, as have other Deputies. I thank the Minister of State because I know he made an intervention as well. I want to acknowledge that.

It is important to say that, while the NCSE is working very hard to open new autism classes, it dropped the ball here. It is not acceptable that children in this school who had diagnoses and who had a letter stating they were entitled to a class would watch other children get places in newly opened classes while they did not. It has always been Government policy that children deserve an appropriate place. I know there is pressure here but has something been learned from the experience of St. Mochta's?

Michael Moynihan (Cork North-West, Fianna Fail)
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It is very important to be fair to the NCSE, the Department and ourselves. A deadline of February was put in place. Parents needed to make contact by that deadline. We worked to those figures. A number of children have come forward post the February deadline in recent weeks. We are actively engaging with those families and with schools in their communities to ensure children are accommodated in appropriate places. A decision was made a number of months ago and the Minister, Deputy McEntee, and I, having engaged with the Department and the NCSE, have moved the deadline for families, guardians and schools to make contact with the NCSE to identify children who will need special classes back to 1 October for next year. That will give us a better sense of the challenges that will be faced in the next school year. It is important that we have this information earlier so that we can make sure we have places available. We will be giving certainty to families prior to Christmas this year. We intend to make sure we get at this earlier.