Thomas Byrne (Meath East, Fianna Fail)
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389. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the number of children with special needs passed the age of six on 1 June 2018 who are awaiting a primary school place. [36900/18]

Richard Bruton (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael)
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This Government is committed to ensuring every child with special educational needs has the opportunity to fulfil their full potential.

In 2018, almost €1.8 billion will be invested in Special Education, nearly one fifth of the overall Education budget, and up 43% since 2011.

The Department's policy is to provide for the inclusive education of children with special educational needs in mainstream school settings, unless such a placement would not be in the best interests of the child concerned, or the children with whom they will be educated. The Deputy will be aware that all children must be enrolled in the primary school system, whether through placement in mainstream classes, in special classes or in special schools in the September prior to their sixth birthday.

The greater proportion of children with special education needs attend mainstream class, where they may access additional supports if required.

Some students with special education needs, although academically able to access the curriculum in mainstream, may find it too difficult to manage full-time placement there and placement in a special class is an option for them.

Special school placements are provided for other students with very complex special needs who wouldn’t manage in a mainstream school even for part of the week.

The Department therefore provides for a continuum of provision which includes mainstream school placements with additional supports, or for pupils who require more specialist interventions, special class and special school placements.

The National Council for Special Education is responsible, through its network of Special Needs Organisers, for the development and delivery and co-ordination of education services to children with Special Educational Needs, including the establishment of special class and special school placements.

The NCSE and my Department work closely together to address issues in specialised provision that arise from time in time at local levels and also to ensure that there is appropriate planning in place to ensure that all children who require special class placements can access such placements in schools within their communities.

To this end my Department and the NCSE have convened a working group to put in place a new working protocol to ensure that there is effective pro-active planning and timely delivery of specialist educational places for students in special classes and special schools.

The focus of the working group is to guide the development of necessary placements in schools in the short, medium and longer terms to meet the anticipated needs of pupils and to ensure that any necessary school building or refurbishment and school transport considerations are resolved as early as possible so that placement options can be accessed where and when they are needed.

My Department has acknowledged that in recent years the establishment of special provision in some schools and communities has been challenging.

The Deputy may be aware that the Education (Admission to Schools) Act 2018 was signed by the President on 18 July 2018 and will, when commenced, assist parents to more easily access local schools and to enrol their children in a school that meets their needs.

When commenced, the Act will also, based on reports and advice from the NCSE, provide a power for the Minister to direct a school to make additional provision in respect of children with special educational needs.

The direction by me will be preceded by a number of steps to allow for engagement between myself, the NCSE, the Board of Management and Patron and where the owner is not the Patron, the owner of a school.

The NCSE is aware of emerging need from year to year, and where special provision is required it is planned and established to meet that need.

Since 2011, the NCSE has increased the number of special classes by over 130% from 548 in 2011 to 1,456 across the country now. In addition there are currently 124 Special schools of which provide 7,872 placements for children with very complex needs.

The National Council for Special Education (NCSE) will continue to establish further specialised placements during the school year where such need has been identified.

In circumstances, where there is no placement available for a child with Special Educational Needs, my Department can provide Home Tuition grant funding towards the provision of 20 hours home tuition per week as an interim measure until the NCSE confirms that a placement is available.

Applications can be made at any point of the school year, based on when the child receives a diagnosis and recommendation for a specialised placement.

Over the course of the 2017/18 school year, 61 children with special education needs over the age of 6 availed of this interim provision. Statistics for the current school year are not readily available. While the scheme has commenced, Statistics have yet to emerge as the Department has only begun to receive applications under the 2018/19 scheme.

Parents/Guardians who may need advice or are experiencing difficulties in locating a school placement, including special class placement, should contact their local Special Educational Needs Organiser (SENO) who can assist in identifying an appropriate educational placement for their child. Contact details are available at .

The NCSE also works in collaboration with the Educational Welfare Services (EWS) of the Child and Family Agency which is the statutory agency that can assist parents who are experiencing difficulty in securing a school place for their child or can offer assistance where a child is out of school. The local service is delivered through the national network of Educational Welfare Officers (EWO). Contact details are available at.