Patricia Ryan (Kildare South, Sinn Fein)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

41. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if she will provide an update on the location for the new special school in Kildare; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [26407/24]

Hildegarde Naughton (Galway West, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

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.

The new special school planned for Kildare along with three others in counties Limerick, Meath and Wexford was announced on the 6 December 2023. Working groups to support the establishment of each special school were established and these groups continue to meet on an ongoing basis.

The location of all four special schools has been confirmed. For Kildare the initial start up location will be at Craddockstown Education Campus beside Naas Community National School. My department continues to examine potential sites for the school's long-term location and this will be confirmed in due course.

One of the first steps when establishing a new school is to identify suitable sites for its location, this involves amongst other things, ensuring the site is capable of meeting the envisioned long-term needs of the school and examining if these sites require reconfiguration or indeed major building works. While this work progresses, in order to ensure schools can be established as quickly as possible, interim arrangements can be put in place to meet the school's short-term needs. This allows schools to begin planning, recruit staff and start to enrol students.

The patron, Kildare and Wicklow Education and Training Board (KWETB) is currently progressing the recruitment of teaching and special need assistant (SNA) staff for the school. The school will initially enrol 24 students and the admission process is currently underway.

Looking forward my department and the NCSE have begun preparatory work in relation to planning for the provision of further new special class and special school places for the 2025/26 school year and beyond.