Thomas Gould (Cork North-Central, Sinn Fein)
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375. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the status of a plan to open SEN classes in a school (details supplied); and if this will include a needed extension of the school building. [9297/25]

Michael Moynihan (Cork North-West, Fianna Fail)
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This government is fully committed to supporting children with special educational needs to fulfil their full potential and the Programme for Government makes a number of commitments to deliver on this objective. The National Council for Special Education (NCSE) has responsibility for coordinating and advising on the education provision for children with special educational needs.

I can confirm to the Deputy that the school in question applied for additional school accommodation under the ASA scheme in 2022. The application sought reconfiguration and a new build to provide Special Class facilities and an Assembly Hall/PE hall. A brief of agreement for reconfiguration and modular accommodation issued to the school in January this year. The school subsequently refused the brief as the proposed modular accommodation was not in line with the school's development plan. Officials in the department are engaging with the school over the next steps for the school.

Through the accelerated provision of additional special class and special school places over recent years, there are now just over 28,000 students enrolled in special classes and special schools. Budget 2025 provides for an additional 2,700 specialist places, made up of 400 new special class and 300 additional special school places. On top of this, there will be well over 1,000 places available through the normal annual movement of students progressing from primary to post-primary and students graduating from post-primary or special schools. There are also existing special class vacancies in some areas of the country.

Of the 400 new special classes places provided for in Budget 2025, the NCSE has advised that 209 of these classes have already been sanctioned for the 2025/26 school year. Of these 22 are in County Cork, 12 at primary and 10 at post primary level.

In County Cork and indeed nationwide, the NCSE continue to engage intensely with schools and school patron bodies to confirm further new special classes as soon as possible. As the NCSE progress the sanctioning of the remaining special classes they will inform parents.

Where new special classes have been sanctioned, I would urge schools to progress the admission of students as soon as possible to ensure that the NCSE can continue to evaluate demand in local areas, sanction classes as required and assist parents in securing a school place.

My department and the NCSE are committed to delivering an education system that is of the highest quality and where every child and young person feels valued and is actively supported and nurtured to reach their full potential.

Thomas Gould (Cork North-Central, Sinn Fein)
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376. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the status of the application for capital works by a school (details supplied). [9298/25]

Helen McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael)
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I wish to advise the Deputy that all applications from schools for major capital works must be considered in the context of capacity requirements and climate action commitments. The priority of my Department continues to be the provision of required additional school places to meet demographic requirements as well as for children with special educational needs.

My Department is required to manage the allocated capital funding across all schools in the country. The Department’s approach is to maximise the usage of existing capacity in schools and, in tandem with this, to manage the progression of the existing pipeline of projects within available budgets and in line with the Government’s Infrastructure Guidelines.

The Department can identify opportunities to transform existing schools as part of energy retrofit projects, and the Department’s Pathfinder programme has been developing effective solutions in this regard, as we plan for a future wider rollout.

The plan for working this through at national scale will be informed by the outcome of an Energy and Condition survey of all schools which is currently underway. The subsequent analysis of this significant amount of data will help determine priorities going forward in relation to retrofit and refurbishment projects. The process may ultimately identify a requirement for the replacement of some accommodation, but this is not expected to be widespread. This overall process is particularly valuable in facilitating a proportionate assessment of a school’s accommodation upgrade needs relative to all other schools and allow an effective prioritisation of capital investment.

The Department's focus for school capital spending in recent years has been on the provision of additional capacity to cater for demographics, new housing developments and the rollout of additional special classes for children with additional needs. This approach reflects the Department’s fundamental objective of ensuring the availability of a school place for every child. The pace of delivery of additional residential development in school planning areas, along with updated enrolment data and demographic data will be kept under review and this will inform the timing of school requirements.

The Department is currently examining demographic requirements in Mallow, including in the context of current and planned residential development activity. The application referred to by the Deputy for capital funding will be considered in this context.