Eoin Ó Broin (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein)
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84. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills to provide information regarding new ASD classes due to open in schools at both primary and secondary levels in the Dublin mid-west constituency in the coming year; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [45489/24]

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 me as Minister for Special Education & Inclusion, 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 NCSE has responsibility for coordinating and advising on the education provision for children with special educational needs nationwide. The attached table provides a list of the location of the 542 Autism classes in operation in the Dublin area for the 2024/25 school year. This is broken into 404 at primary level and 138 at post-primary, in addition, there are 19 Autism Early Intervention classes in the county.

Almost 1,700 classes have been sanctioned by the NCSE in recent years, 11 new special schools have also been established and many more expanded. For this school year alone over 400 new special classes have been sanctioned bringing the total number of special classes nationwide to 3,337.

603 of these classes are in County Dublin, 70 are new for the 2024/25 school year, 48 at primary level and 22 at post-primary level. The vast majority of these are autism classes and have a teacher/student ratio of 1:6.

Budget 2025 provides funding for another 400 special classes and 300 special school places nationwide and it is estimated that a similar level of provision will be needed each year for the next 3 years.

The NCSE have recruited additional special education needs organisers (SENOs), advisors and team managers. A total of 120 SENOs now operate nationwide, 28 of these are operating solely in County Dublin. SENOs play an important role in ensuring there is adequate special educational provision within local areas and are currently visiting schools nationwide to conduct planning meetings. These visits will be key in terms of forward planning for the 2025/26 school year.

Eoin Ó Broin (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein)
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85. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if there are plans by her Department to open a new special school in the Dublin mid-west constituency in order to meet demand; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [45490/24]

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.

As announced last month by myself and Minister Foley, there are two new special school planned for Dublin along with three others in counties Cork, Monaghan and Tipperary for the 2025/26 school year. The exact location, size of the schools and other details are currently being worked through.

These schools will provide for children and young people with complex special education needs up to 18 years of age. They are being sanctioned as early as possible as part of advanced forward planning for the next school year to ensure that appropriate placements are available where needed to meet the needs of students with special educational needs.

The announcement of these schools is a significant step forward. Part of the forward planning process looks at how far students are travelling to access an education appropriate to their needs. This is an important factor which has been incorporated into the decision making process. In addition, information held on the department's Geographical Information System (GIS), particularly in relation to student demographics and other statistical data also forms part of the process. NCSE knowledge of the need for special school places at local level is a key element also.

The early announcement of the new schools is an important milestone because it allows more time for the planning of school admissions, recruitment of staff, staff training and completion of necessary building works.

It is envisaged that existing buildings will be repurposed to facilitate the opening of the new special schools for the 2025/26 school year. Further details such as the precise location of the new schools in each county will be confirmed in due course as part of the finalisation of arrangements for the opening of the new special schools.

Dedicated working groups will be established to support the establishment of each of the new special schools.