Barry Heneghan (Dublin Bay North, Independent)
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Today, my constituency colleague, Deputy Cian O'Callaghan, and I are speaking on behalf of a school that we both visited with the Minister earlier in the year. I hope the staff and children who are watching this debate in the school today are having a lovely morning. At present, Stapolin Educate Together National School has two autism classes and one developmental language disorder, DLD, class.

Despite this, there are currently multiple children in mainstream classes with eligibility letters for placement in autism classes and waiting lists of around 50 children still seeking places. My colleagues and I across Dublin Bay North are hearing this consistently. I know this is not the Minister of State's responsibility, but I hope he relays this to the other Ministers.

In light of this demand the school is ready and eager to open two additional autism classes. We visited with the Minister of State. He was blown away by the resources and the resourcefulness of the staff and SNAs as they help children develop successfully. I commend Deputy O'Callaghan on the work he has done with the school before I entered this House.

Its autism classes are only in their third year and yet in that short time they have built a great model of excellence. My main asks on behalf of the school are for the Minister to sanction two additional autism classes for the 2026-2027 school year to meet demand and to ensure that with its proven capacity and clear success it is prioritised along with other schools when allocating special classes. I also ask that the Minister renews the SENO guidance and decision-making to ensure recommendations are based on children's assessed needs rather than absence of available places.

Cian O'Callaghan (Dublin Bay North, Social Democrats)
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I thank Deputy Heneghan for his contribution. I also want to acknowledge that Minister of State, Deputy Moynihan, visited the school - Stapolin Educate Together National School - a few months ago. The Government has said time and again that every child that needs an appropriate school place should have one. Stapolin Educate Together National School has asked to open two additional autism classes. There is huge demand for places in autism classes and here we have a school that is offering to open two more classes. Suitable space is available on the school site for the modular units required. There is experienced staff in the school who can support the establishment of two additional classes and the school is willing and able to meeting the need in the area.

There is substantial need. There are eight children in the mainstream classes who have been issued eligibility letters for autism class placement. In addition, the school has a waiting list of over 50 children looking for a suitable place. All that is required is approval.

No immediate action is being taken to progress the provision of these two much-needed additional classes. Why not? This is urgent. It requires action and approval and requires them now. Why is the provision of these two much-needed classes being held up? When will approval be granted? Will Minister, Deputy McEntee, meet with the school principal who has requested this?

The National Council for Special Education, NCSE, has told the school that priority is being given to schools that do not yet have any special classes. That is a laudable aim. However, given the level of need there is why can that objective and the provision of additional classes where there is the demand, need and capacity not be provided at the same time? Why not build on the very successful provision of autism classes that are already in the school?

Niall Collins (Limerick County, Fianna Fail)
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The Government is committed to the provision of additional special places for children with special educational needs. As the Deputies know, the school referred to by them has three special classes, two dedicated for children with autism and one for children with a developmental language disorder or speech sound disorder.

The school is to be commended on its proactiveness and willingness to open further special classes to supports its community. Indeed, the hard work and dedication to special education was evident when the Minister of State, Deputy Moynihan, visited the school earlier this year with the Deputies.

Budget 2026 secured funding for 3,000 new specialist places and the NCSE is currently examining where these places are best located for the 2026-2027 school year. In County Dublin, 705 special classes are now in operation providing capacity for over 4,200 students. This includes 103 new special classes for this school year. There are also 42 special schools in Dublin with approximately 2,700 students enrolled. Two of the five new special schools being established for the 2025-2026 school year are located in Lucan and Belmayne.

The NCSE will have a clear picture of local demand for specialist places for the 2026-2027 school year after it reviews and assesses all of the information which has been provided through the parents notification process which closed on 1 October.

The NCSE is also engaging directly with schools' boards of management in relation to the opening of new special classes. This engagement and earlier scrutiny of information means that the NCSE is on track to sanction the majority of new classes for the 2026-2027 school year by 31 December this year, four months earlier than in previous years.

In addition, in order to ensure new special classes can open as quickly as possible, the NCSE will continue to prioritise working with medium and larger primary schools that do not already have a special class and have available accommodation to accommodate a new special class. This approach maximises the use of existing space which can be reconfigured efficiently while ensuring that new provision continues to be established. It also increases the number of schools with special classes providing parents with greater choice and reducing the distances that some children are travelling to access a specialist placement. However, as in other years where schools have no available accommodation, particularly at post-primary level, and there is known demand in a local area, the Department will continue to provide additional classroom accommodation to provide necessary places.

This earlier commitment to the sanctioning of special classes combined with the rollout of the common application system pilot are some of the ways this Government is committed to ensuring the burden on parents is alleviated when seeking a specialist placement particularly in high areas of demand such as in Dublin 13.

I assure the Deputies that the Department and the NCSE are committed to ensuring that sufficient special education placements remain available for all children with special educational needs.

Barry Heneghan (Dublin Bay North, Independent)
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Tá sé deas é sin a chloisteáil ach, lena bheith ionraic. We have to really look at what the NCSE says it is doing. It says that it wishes to expand provision to schools that do not yet have special classes.

I commend Minister of State, Deputy Moynihan, for engaging with me on this matter. I know he has a huge body of work but the fact is he is getting through it and did visit four schools in Dublin Bay North. We were lucky to get the Minister of State out and he has responded to a lot of my emails to help them. As I said, when he was there, he was blown away by what the staff were doing to cope with funding.

Both goals can be pursed together. We have a situation where children with eligibility letters are sitting in mainstream classes. The programme for Government says that we want every single child to not only survive but to thrive. We need these key asks to be put in together.

Cian O'Callaghan (Dublin Bay North, Social Democrats)
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I want to read from correspondence from the school principal. She says:

Our autism classes are now in their third year, and in that short time, we've gained extensive experience in setting them up and supporting our pupils to thrive. The success of our model has been widely recognised with teachers and SNAs from other schools regularly visiting us to observe and learn from our approach. We have developed a reputation as a well-run and highly effective setting, something we are deeply proud of.

We should all be proud of that. That is such a good model to build on. When there is school with that success that is willing to provide the additional classes that are needed, it makes no sense not to grasp that opportunity. The Minister of State said that the school should be commended. It does need a commendation. It needs the Government to act on this. This is an area with a huge amount of new residential accommodation built over the past number of years. There is also a huge number of families with young children. It is a thriving area with a massive need. We need the Minister to act on this now. Will the Minister of State ask the Minister, Deputy McEntee, to meet with the school principal? Will he pass that request on?

Niall Collins (Limerick County, Fianna Fail)
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I thank the Deputies for raising this question and giving me an opportunity to reassure the House that the Department of Education and Youth and the NCSE are committed to ensuring that all children can access an education suitable to their needs. The Department of Education and Youth is committed to engaging intensely with the NCSE in relation to forward planning for new special provision to ensure every child has a place in an educational setting best fitting their educational need. It is important to remember that as we do this, our focus remains in keeping with policy on an inclusive education which promotes that children will be supported to receive an education in the most inclusive setting possible.

It is important to remember that, as we do this, our focus remains in keeping with policy on an inclusive education that promotes that children will be supported to receive an education in the most inclusive setting possible. Of course, where demand is identified for special education classes, this will be sanctioned by the NCSE and established in schools within local areas. I accept that it may not always be possible to sanction these classes in preferred schools. It is important that classes be distributed fairly across schools in areas. This ensures inclusion practices continue in as many schools as possible and ensures our provision continues to expand evenly across diverse schools.

The NCSE continues to examine the information gathered through the parents’ notifying system and match this demand to appropriate schools in local areas. It is envisioned that the location of the majority of special classes will be sanctioned by December of this year, four months earlier than in previous years. Parents will therefore be able to apply for specialist places much earlier than in previous years. I am aware that the Minister, Deputy McEntee, and the Minister of State, Deputy Moynihan, continue to meet NCSE and senior Department of Education and Youth officials weekly to discuss the progress being made in providing further special classes for the next school year, 2026 to 2027.