Thomas Gould (Cork North Central, Sinn Fein)
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101. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the number of children who will require a primary and secondary special school place in County Cork in September 2022; and the number available. [4642/22]

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

This year, my Department will spend in excess of €2 Billion, or over 25% of the Department’s budget on providing additional teaching and care supports for children with special educational needs.

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

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.

There are currently a network of 357 special classes in Cork, including Cork City, of which 309 are special classes for children with autism.Of the 309 special classes for children with autism, 228 are at primary level including 21 Early Intervention classes and 81 are at post primary level. A total of 45 new ASD special classes were established in Cork for the 2021/2022 school year.

The Deputy will be aware that Minister Foley and I secured a significant expansion of special school provision in Cork for the current school year. A new special school was established in Carrigaline as well as increasing capacity in St. Mary’s Special School, Rochestown to meet the needs of children in the Cork area.

The NCSE through their network of SENOs (Special Educational Needs Organisers) continue to engage in a process of establishing new classes and increasing special school provision for the 2022/2023 school year and beyond by looking at local information in relation to current and projected demand for special education places.

The NCSE have specific plans in place to open additional special classes in Cork for the 2022/23 school year and are also supporting special schools in Cork to increase their enrolment capacity.

Parents seeking special class or special school placements for their children are advised to contact NCSE locally so that their needs can be taken into account for planning purposes.

I should also clarify that the NCSE does not maintain waiting lists for schools. Boards of management of individual schools are responsible for such enrolment matters.

The local SENOs remain available to assist and advise parents of children with special educational needs. Parents may contact SENOs directly using the contact details available at: ncse.ie/regional-servic.

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