Sorca Clarke (Longford-Westmeath, Sinn Fein)
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852.To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if appropriate steps will be taken to ensure centralised data is published every year on the number of children with SEN who are without an appropriate school place. [33401/24]

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.

My department and the NCSE work closely in relation to the forward planning of new special classes and additional special school places, work which is close to finalisation for the 2024/25 school year and well in progress for next year and indeed future years.

402 new special classes have been sanctioned by the NCSE for the 2024/25 school year, 284 at primary and 118 at post primary level, providing over 2,400 special education places in mainstream schools.

The NCSE is confident that through the provision of the newly sanctioned classes and vacancies in existing classes there is sufficient places to meet the needs of all children known to them for September 2024.

This is why I urge parents to contact the NCSE, special educational needs officers (SENOs) are readily available to assist and advise the parents of students with special educational needs on where there are vacancies. Each child is entitled to an educational placement and I am satisfied that we have created the additional capacity required to meet the needs of children known to the NCSE for September 2024.

Significant additional resources have been provided to the NCSE to allow for its expansion. By September we will have 120 SENOs, who at a local level are a pivotal point of contact for parents, guardians and schools. This together with the enhanced capacity of other services within the NCSE, will bolster the level of service and provide effective structures to relieve pressure on parents when seeking special educational placements.