Hildegarde Naughton (Galway West, Fine Gael)
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Enabling children with special educational needs to receive an education is a priority for this government. It is also a key priority for my department and for the National Council for Special Education (NCSE).

The vast majority of children with special educational needs are supported to attend mainstream classes with their peers. Where children with more complex needs require additional supports, special classes and special school places are provided.

In 2024, €2.7 billion is being spent on special education, an increase of €113 million, and this is dedicated to providing supports for children with special educational needs.

This includes funding to support children with special educational needs in mainstream classes; funding for new special classes and new special school places; additional special educational teachers, special needs assistants (SNAs) and funding for the National Educational Psychological Service (NEPS).

In 2024, the number of SNA posts in our schools will increase with an additional 1,216 SNAs posts available for allocation by the NCSE. This will mean we will have over 21,900 SNA posts available to our schools to support the care needs of pupils with special educational needs.

The NCSE has the responsibility for planning and coordinating school supports for children with special educational needs including the allocation of SNAs and reviews.

SNAs play a central role in the successful inclusion of students with additional and significant care needs into mainstream education, special classes and special schools ensuring that these students can access education to enable them to achieve their best outcomes and reach their full potential.

The estimated annual cost of a new entrant SNA post is €32,740, the estimated full-year cost of increasing the number of special needs assistants by 500, 1,000 and 1,500 posts is as follows.

Number of posts	Estimated cost
500	€16,370,000
1,000	€32,740,000
1,500	€49,110,000

Hildegarde Naughton (Galway West, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 273 and 274 together.

Enabling children with special educational needs to receive an education is a priority for this government. It is also a key priority for my department and for the National Council for Special Education (NCSE).

The vast majority of children with special educational needs are supported to attend mainstream classes with their peers. Where children with more complex needs require additional supports, special classes and special school places are provided.

In 2024, €2.7 billion is being spent on special education, an increase of €113 million, and this is dedicated to providing supports for children with special educational needs.

This includes funding to support children with special educational needs in mainstream classes; funding for new special classes and new special school places; additional special educational teachers, special needs assistants (SNAs) and funding for the National Educational Psychological Service (NEPS).

In 2024, the number of teaching and SNA posts in our schools will increase with an additional 744 teachers and 1,216 SNAs added to deliver up to 2,700 new places for children with special educational needs. This will mean we will have over 41,500 qualified and committed people in our schools who are focused wholly and exclusively on supporting children with special educational needs.

The NCSE has the responsibility for planning and coordinating school supports for children with special educational needs.

Special education teachers provide additional teaching support for students with special educational needs enrolled in mainstream classes in primary and post primary schools.

The special education teaching (SET) allocation model provides a single unified allocation for special educational support teaching needs to each school, based on each school’s educational profile.

Based on costings for the average teacher’s salary the following are estimates for appointing both primary and post-primary teachers to special education teacher posts.

Primary Teacher	Post-Primary Teacher
€65,670 – Excl. of ER PRSI	€64,070- Excl. of ER PRSI

Therefore if additional posts were to be created, depending on whether primary or post-primary teachers were recruited, it would be estimated to be a cost of:

Number of posts	Primary	Post-Primary
100	€6,567,000	€6,407,000
500	€32,835,000	€32,035,000
1000	€65,670,000	€64,070,000

Based on an estimated allocation of 20,000 SET posts, the full-year cost of increasing the salary of those posts by 1%, 2% and 5%, is as follows.

Primary	Increase	Estimated cost of increase	Posts	Estimated cost of salary increase
€65,670	1%	€656.70	20,000	€13,134,000
€65,670	2%	€1,313.40	20,000	€26,268,000
€65,670	5%	€3,283.50	20,000	€65,670,000

Post- Primary	Increase	Estimated cost of increase	Posts	Estimated cost of salary increase
€64,070	1%	€640.70	20,000	€12,814,000
€64,070	2%	€1,281.40	20,000	€25,628,000
€64,070	5%	€3,203.50	20,000	€64,070,000