Carol Nolan (Offaly, Sinn Fein)
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90. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the number of children per county who have applied over each of the past five years to either a special class or an autism class and were refused due to lack of space; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [6457/17]

Richard Bruton (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael)
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As the enrolment of a child to a school is a matter, in the first instance, for the parents/guardians of the child and the Board of Management of a school my Department does not hold details regarding the number of pupils that may have applied for or who may have been refused places in special classes due to lack of space in a school.

However, parents of children with special needs who may need advice or are experiencing difficulties in locating a school placement should contact their local Special Educational Needs Organiser (SENO) as soon as possible for information on available places. The local SENO contact details are available on www.ncse.ie.

Section 29 of the Education Act, 1998 provides for an appeal by a parent or guardian to the Secretary General of my Department, or in the case of an Educational Training Board (ETB) school to the ETB in the first instance, where a Board of Management of a school, or a person acting on behalf of the Board, refuses to enrol a student in a school, expels a student or suspends a student for 20 or more days in any school year. Further information on the Section 29 appeals process is available on the Department's website www.education.ie.

The Education (Admission to Schools) Bill 2016, published on 6th July 2016 and passed second stage on 17 November 2016, provides that where a school has places available it must admit all applicants. The Bill also contains a provision for the National Council for Special Education (NCSE) to designate a school for a child who has no school place for reasons related to the child’s special educational needs, and for the Child and Family Agency to designate a school for a child who has no school place (other than a child with special educational needs). The NCSE or the Child and Family Agency will not be able to increase a school’s capacity, a school must have places available for a designation to be made.

Children with autism may be eligible for home tuition if a school placement is not available for them and/or where a determination is awaited in respect of an expulsion or refusal to enrol taken under section 29 of the Education Act, 1998. Details in relation to the Home Tuition schemes are available on my Department's website at www.education.ie.

Home Tuition will not be available where a school placement has been identified by the NCSE. Similarly, failure to enrol a child in school will not give rise to eligibility under this scheme.

It is general practice to include a Special Needs Unit in the accommodation brief for new school buildings, unless local circumstances indicate that it will not be required. In addition, my Department may also provide capital funding to schools to establish special needs provision e.g. reconfigure existing accommodation to provide a special class where this has been approved by the NCSE through its network of local SENOs.

The NCSE is responsible for organising and planning provision for children with Special Educational Needs, including establishing special classes in mainstream primary and post primary schools.

The NCSE has advised that there are almost 18,000 students with ASD attending schools nationally. Of these 3,484 are attending primary ASD classes and 1,118 are attending post primary ASD classes.

There are currently 1,153 special classes, which is an increase of over 100% on the number available in 2011.  Of these, 127 are ASD early intervention classes, 525 are primary ASD classes and 237 are post-primary ASD classes. The remainder are non-ASD special classes.

The NCSE, in consultation with the relevant education partners, must take into account the present and future potential need, location and sustainability in looking to establish special classes in certain areas.  In this regard the NCSE has advised that they are continuing to engage with schools, in opening special classes where there is an identified need for special class provision.

Details of all special classes for children with special educational needs are available on www.ncse.ie in county order.

The NCSE recently launched guidelines for Boards of Management and Principals of Primary and Post Primary schools which provide information on setting up and organising special classes.  These guidelines are available to download from www.ncse.ie.