Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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189. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the degree to which she expects to address the need for special needs provision in all primary and post-primary schools nationally in preparation for the next academic year; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [30571/20]

Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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190. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the extent to which she expects to address the need for special needs classes in all schools throughout County Kildare in the course of the current and subsequent years; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [30572/20]

Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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191. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the extent to which she expects to address the need for special needs classes in all schools nationally in the course of the current and subsequent years; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [30573/20]

Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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192. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the extent to which she expects to meet the need as stated by primary and second level school authorities in County Kildare in respect of special needs classes, teachers and special needs assistants; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [30574/20]

Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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193. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the extent to which she expects to meet the need as stated by primary and second level school authorities nationally in respect of special needs classes, teachers and special needs assistants; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [30575/20]

Josepha Madigan (Dublin Rathdown, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 189 to 193, inclusive, together.

My Department is committed to supporting every child with special educational needs to receive an education. The Department next year will spend approximately €2 Billion, or over 20% of its total educational budget annually, on making additional provision for children with special educational needs.

This represents an increase of over 50% in total expenditure since 2011.

This investment will allow us to provide over 1,200 extra special class places next year.

There are currently over 13,550 Special Education Teachers allocated to mainstream schools, supporting the additional learning needs of pupils, of which 9,325 are allocated to primary schools.

This represents an increase of 40% in the provision for special education teachers since 2011.

An additional 145 special education teachers will also be available for allocation next year.

The number of SNAs in the school system has increased by almost 60% since 2011.

Approximately 1,000 additional SNAs will also be allocated to schools next year, bringing the total number to 18,000.

The National Council for Special Education (NCSE) has responsibility for coordinating and advising on the education provision for children nationwide. It has well established structures in place for engaging with schools and parents. NCSE seeks to ensure that schools in an area can, between them, cater for all children who have been identified as needing special education placements.

NCSE is planning a further expansion of special class and special school places nationally, to meet identified need. This process is ongoing.

It is open to any school to make an application to the NCSE for the establishment of a specialised provision and where sanctioned, a range of supports, including capital funding, is made available to the school.

Notwithstanding the extent of this investment, there are some parts of the country where increases in population and other issues have led to concerns regarding a shortage of school places.

As Minister, I have powers under Section 37A of the Education Act to direct a school to provide additional places but this power is only used as a last resort and where all reasonable efforts have failed. However, the experience to date shows that real and practical challenges can be addressed effectively by working together to provide additional special class and special school places.

Through better planning at both national and local level, it is my objective that specialist education places should come on stream to meet emerging demand on a timely basis. However, the active collaboration of school communities is essential in this regard.