Colm Burke (Cork North Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Senator. I apologise that the Minister of State, Deputy Naughton, is not available to do the reply. She has asked me to deal with it on her behalf. A priority for this Government is to ensure that all children have an appropriate school placement and that the necessary supports are provided to our schools to ensure the needs of children with special educational needs are met. 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.

The Minister of State with responsibility for special education and inclusion, Deputy Naughton, is very aware of the work the Senator is doing to progress the provision of special education places in Longford. She has asked me to convey her apologies that she could not be here to address this matter with the Senator, but she has asked me to assure him that she looks forward to continuing to build on the progress they have made together in the provision of special education places for the children of Longford. As the Senator will know, the National Council for Special Education, NCSE, has responsibility for co-ordinating and advising on the education provision for children nationwide. The Department of Education and the NCSE have introduced a number of strategic initiatives to plan for and provide sufficient mainstream, special class and special school places. Almost 1,700 new special classes have been sanctioned over the last five years and 11 new special schools have been established.

The Senator references the issue of establishing new autism classes in County Longford. Six new classes have been sanctioned for the 2024-25 school year, with four being at primary level and two at post-primary level. This brings the total number of special classes in Longford to 47, of which 30 are at primary level and 17 at post-primary level. The vast majority of these are autism classes and have a teacher-student ratio of 1:6. The NCSE has recruited additional special education needs organisers, SENOs, advisers and team managers. A total of 120 SENOs now operate nationwide, which is almost double what we had previously. Longford now has a SENO dedicated solely to the county. The SENOs play an important role in ensuring there is adequate special educational provision within local areas and are currently visiting schools nationwide to conduct planning meetings. These visits will be key to forward planning for the 2025-26 school year.

This year, the Department of Education will spend in excess of €2.7 billion, or over a quarter of its budget, on providing additional teaching and care supports for children with special educational needs. For the first time we have over 41,500 staff working in the education system who are specifically dedicated to supporting students with special educational needs. For 2025, the Department will further increase the number of teaching and special needs assistant posts in our schools. There will be an additional 768 teachers and a further 1,600 SNAs in our schools. These posts will support the opening of 400 new special classes and 300 new special school places for the 2025-26 school year. The demand for new special classes at post-primary level is expected to increase significantly over the next few years, due to increasing demographics and increasing prevalence rates, and the Department and the NCSE have engaged with post-primary stakeholders about the provision of special classes. The Minister of State outlined the situation further in the circulated reply.