Cormac Devlin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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702.To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the number of ASD places funded for the academic years 2020 to 2024, in tabular form; and if she will make a statement on the matter.[35909/24]

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.

Over 400 new special classes have been sanctioned by the NCSE for the 2024/25 school year bringing the total number of special classes nationwide to 3,333, 2,337 at primary level and 996 at post-primary. The vast majority of these are autism classes which have a teacher/student ratio of 1:6.

The table below shows the number of autism classes from 2020 to 2024.