Mary Butler (Waterford, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

On behalf of the Minister of State with responsibility for special education and inclusion, I thank the Senator for raising this matter. She is right. We have made great progress in recent years and I will be able provide some clarity about the case to which she referred.

At the outset, I stress that enabling students with additional needs to receive an education appropriate to their needs is an ongoing priority for this Government. It is important to remember that the vast majority of children with special educational needs are supported to attend mainstream classes with their peers. To support children with more complex needs, special classes in mainstream schools and special schools are provided.

This year, the Department of Education will spend in excess of €2.6 billion, or over 27% of its budget, on providing additional teaching and care supports for children with special educational needs. For 2023, the Department has further increased the number of teaching and SNA posts in our schools and I know everybody will welcome that. There will be an additional 686 teachers and a further 1,194 special needs assistants, SNAs, in our schools by the end of this calendar year. For the first time ever we will have over 19,000 teachers working in the area of special education and more than 20,000 SNAs.

The National Council for Special Education, NCSE, has responsibility for co-ordinating and advising on the education provision for children nationwide. Over the past three years, the Department and the NCSE have introduced a number of strategic initiatives to plan for and provide sufficient mainstream, special class and special school places. These initiatives are bearing fruit, with more than 600 new special classes sanctioned at primary level, almost 300 new special classes sanctioned at post-primary level and five new special schools established over the past three years.

On 12 April, the Minister for Education and the Minister of State with responsibility for special education and inclusion announced the establishment of two further new special schools as part of a comprehensive update on enhanced education provision for students with special educational needs. These two new special schools will be established in Carrigtwohill in east Cork and Dublin 7 for the 2023-24 school year and will bring to seven the number of new special schools established over the past three years. Along with the two new special schools, the NCSE has also sanctioned 328 new special classes for opening in the coming school year with more to be confirmed in the coming weeks - 217 at primary and 111 at post-primary level. The vast majority of these new classes are to support children with autism.

I know the Senator is interested in the specific details regarding the new special school in Dublin. It will be the first special school under the patronage of the City of Dublin Education and Training Board, ETB. Regarding the location of this new special school, I can confirm that the Grangegorman Development Agency is in discussions with the Department regarding the leasing of a site for a special school for young people with additional educational needs that will initially be located on the Grangegorman site. It is proposed that the new school be located on the former site of the Dublin 7 Educate Together School, which is in the process of moving from temporary facilities to its new purpose-built home on another part of the Grangegorman site. These facilities are much needed for young people in the area and this interim arrangement at Grangegorman is proposed to help meet this demand until the longer term location for a new permanent school can be worked through.