John Lahart (Dublin South West, Fianna Fail)
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730. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if there is a mechanism through which the State can assist parents with fees in circumstances (details supplied). [30894/21]

Josepha Madigan (Dublin Rathdown, Fine Gael)
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Enabling children with special educational needs to receive an education appropriate to their needs is a priority for this Government.

This year, just under 25% of the total Education budget or €2bn will be invested in supporting children with special educational needs.As a result, the numbers of special education teachers, SNAs and special class and school places are at unprecedented levels.

The National Council for Special Education (NCSE) has responsibility for coordinating and advising on the education provision for children nationwide.

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

Planning for future needs takes into consideration the current availability of such places and focuses on those locations where additional provision is required. However, the active collaboration of school communities is essential in this regard.

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.

The Department currently does not have a policy supporting the establishment of special classes in fee-charging schools. To date the experience has been that schools in the free education scheme have sufficient capacity to meet the need for additional special classes.

In establishing new special classes, the NCSE is required to satisfy itself that the class is both sustainable and available to all of the students who may need special class placements in a particular area.

Finally, I can reassure the Deputy that the local Special Educational Needs Organisers (SENOs) are available to assist and advise both schools and the parents of children with special educational needs. Parents may contact SENOs directly using the contact details available at: www.ncse.ie/regional-servic.

Information on the list of schools with special classes, the type and location of these classes is published on the NCSE website and is available at www.ncse.ie

My Department will continue to support the NCSE and schools through the provision of the necessary funding and capital investment to ensure all children are successful in accessing an education.