Seán Haughey (Dublin Bay North, Fianna Fail)
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86. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills to provide an update on the national recruitment campaign for special education needs organisers as part of the ongoing expansion of the National Council for Special Education; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [52734/23]

Josepha Madigan (Dublin Rathdown, Fine Gael)
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I want to thank the Deputy for this question regarding the vital expansion of the National Council for Special Education's (NCSE) frontline service. The NCSE is responsible, through its network of Special Educational Needs Organisers (SENOs), for delivering a high quality, child-centred service within a designated area in relation to the identification of and delivery and co-ordination of education services to children with disabilities.

It is a priority for me that the NCSE expand and develop its services to meet the needs of children with special educational needs. That is why we are investing an additional €13 million for the recruitment of up to 161 additional staff in their organisation. It was very important that the NCSE plan effectively for this expansion, which will see them increase their workforce by 50%, and for that reason they have undergone a significant organisational development programme over the last 12 months. I am pleased to say this will be ready to roll out from January 2024.

The NCSE has undertaken a significant process of engagement with both internal and external stakeholders in the context of the organisational design process. It was critical that the NCSE took this opportunity to evaluate its structure, operating model and resource requirements in order to deliver on its strategic objectives and be responsive to the needs of students, parents and schools.

As part of the organisational design, the NCSE has identified key drivers in demand for services, underpinned by a robust analysis of data gathered over the last 5 years. This will ensure that the NCSE can best match current and future resources to specific areas of need on an individual county based, and that the NCSE will have a working model to project areas of future need so they can respond to and anticipate changing circumstances by having the resources in place to meet the needs of children, their families and schools as they arise.

In addition, the new detailed organisational design will significantly change the structure of the NCSE including a doubling of the number of regional teams, all of which will contain SENOs and Advisors.

There will be a significant increase in the number of SENOs employed by the NCSE. It is anticipated that the number of SENOs will grow from the current 73 sanctioned posts to at least 116, so that they can respond effectively to the needs of schools, parents and children in every part of the country. A nationwide competition for the recruitment of SENOs was advertised in October 2023 with a closing date of November 2nd for the receipt of applications.

I am very pleased to report that there was a substantial response to the competition and it is currently moving through the various selection stages. It is intended that the intake from this recruitment campaign will commence in January 2024 and the new staff will be assigned to fill a small number of existing vacancies and to take up new positions created as part of the NCSE expansion. I am very confident that the full benefits of this Government's investment in supporting the education of children with special educational needs will become clearer as we move into 2024 and the newly appointed additional staff of the NCSE start taking up their roles across the country.