Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank Senator Wall for raising this issue. A priority for this Government is to ensure all children have an appropriate school placement and that all the necessary supports are provided to our schools to cater for the needs of children with special educational needs. It is important to remember that the vast majority of children with special educational needs are supported to attend mainstream classes with their peers.

In 2023, the Department of Education spent more than €2.6 billion on special education. Further progress will be made this year as an additional €113 million will be dedicated to providing supports for children with special educational needs.

In 2024, the number of teaching and SNA posts in our schools will increase, with an additional 744 teachers and 1,216 SNAs added to deliver up to 2,700 new places for children with special educational needs. This will mean we will have in excess of 41,500 qualified and very committed people in our schools who are focused wholly and exclusively on supporting children with special educational needs.

The National Council for Special Education, NCSE, has the responsibility for planning and co-ordinating school supports for children with special educational needs. The Department of Education engages intensely with the NCSE in relation to the forward planning of new special classes and additional special school places. These initiatives are bearing fruit, with more than 1,300 new special classes sanctioned and several new special schools established over the past four years. This forward planning work is well under way ahead of the 2024-2025 school year. This work involves a detailed review of statistical data on forecasting demand for special class places, an analysis of available school accommodation, consideration of improved data sharing arrangements and a particular focus on the provision of special classes at post-primary level.

As Senator Wall has said, the Minister, Deputy Foley and the Minister of State, Deputy Madigan, announced the establishment of a further four new special schools for the 2024-2025 school year, including in south Kildare. These new schools are under the patronage of the local education and training board. This will bring to 11 the number of new special schools established nationwide in recent years.

The Department of Education is continuing to actively explore the accommodation options available to facilitate the establishment of the new special school in south Kildare. This is being advanced as quickly as possible to facilitate the delivery of accommodation for the new school in the 2024-2025 school year. Once this process has been completed, the Department will then be in a position to advise the relevant stakeholders.

It is also expected that the new special school to be established in Enfield in County Meath will help meet the needs of some students from the north Kildare region and other local areas. Both schools will cater for young people with autism and complex learning needs up to the age of 18. The schools have been sanctioned as early as possible as part of advanced planning to meet the needs of students with special educational needs due to start school next September. This was after analysis by the NCSE and the Department of Education found that the level of need in these particular areas could not be catered for by expanding places in existing schools.This analysis, which Senator Wall referred to, also considered the distances travelled by students to access a special school place. A dedicated working group comprising Department officials, ETB staff and NCSE local staff has been set up to support the establishment of the new school in the south Kildare area. The group meets regularly and continues to work to progress a range of issues related to the development of an admissions policy, staff recruitment and training. I assure the Senator that both the Department and the NCSE will continue to work closely with Kildare and Wicklow ETB to progress this, but I will also raise the issue of SENO collaboration with the Minister for Education, Deputy Foley, and the Minister of State, Deputy Madigan.