Carol Nolan (Offaly, Sinn Fein)
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173. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the number of schools that currently have no special needs unit; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [16918/16]

Richard Bruton (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael)
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I wish to advise the Deputy that my Department's policies focus on ensuring that all children can have access to an education appropriate to their needs, preferably in mainstream school settings through the primary and post-primary school network.

Section 2 of the Education of Persons with Special Educational Needs Act provides that a child with special educational needs shall be educated in an inclusive environment with children who do not have such needs, unless the nature or degree of the needs of the child is such that it would be inconsistent with the best interests of the child, or children with whom the child is to be educated.

Accordingly, most children with special educational needs will attend mainstream schools with additional resources provided to assist the child in that setting.

For pupils who have needs which require more specialist interventions, my Department provides for special classes and special school placements.

The National Council for Special Education (NCSE), through its network of local Special Educational Needs Organisers (SENOs), is responsible for processing applications from primary and post-primary schools for special educational needs supports, including the establishment of special classes in various geographical areas as required. The NCSE operates within my Department's criteria in allocating such support.

The NCSE recently published a list of special classes for the 2016/17 school year, details of which are available at www.ncse.ie.

In total there will be 1153 special classes available next year, which is an increase of almost 100% in the number of special classes which were available in 2011, which was 548.

There will be 842 special classes in 421 primary schools from September 2016, which means that approximately 13% of primary schools now have one, or more, special classes.

There will be 311 special classes in 193 post-primary schools from September 2016, which means that approximately 26% of post-primary schools now have one, or more, special classes.

The NCSE continues to monitor and review the requirement for special class places in particular areas and has capacity to establish such new special classes where necessary subject to the willingness of schools to open classes.

Full details of all special classes are available at www.ncse.ie.