Naoise Ó Muirí (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael)
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169. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the measures being taken to address the shortage of special school places in an area (details supplied); and if she will make a statement on the matter. [5170/25]

Michael Moynihan (Cork North-West, Fianna Fail)
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As you are aware enabling children with special educational needs to receive an education is a priority for government.

The National Council for Special Education (NCSE) has responsibility for coordinating and advising on the education provision for children with special educational needs.

There continues to be an increasing need to provide additional special school places to support children with complex needs. To meet this need, eleven new special schools have been established in recent years and capacity has been expanded in a number of others. Five more special schools will be established for the 2025/26 school year in counties Cork, Dublin (Lucan and Belmayne North Dublin), Monaghan and Tipperary.

The new special schools established over recent years have focused on providing additional places in our largest urban areas – Dublin and Cork. The department and NCSE have already begun planning in relation to further expanding special school capacity for the 2026/27 school year. It is estimated that a further 300 new special school places may be required each year for the coming years.

In addition. almost 1,700 classes have been sanctioned by the NCSE in the last 5 years. For this school year alone over 400 new special classes have been sanctioned bringing the total number of special classes nationwide to over 3,330.

602 of these classes are in County Dublin, 69 are new for the 2024/25 school year, 48 at primary level and 21 at post-primary level. Budget 2025 provides funding for another 400 special classes and 300 special school places nationwide.

The NCSE will progress the sanctioning of new special educational places over the coming weeks and will advise parents in turn on the location of these for the 2025/26 school year.

Parents seeking special class placements for their children are advised to contact the NCSE locally for planning purposes. Local SENOs are available to assist and advise parents and can provide details on schools with available special educational places. Parents may contact SENOs directly using the contact details available on the NCSE website.