Cathy Bennett (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein)
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80. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the number of spaces for children with additional needs in Monaghan; the plans to increase such; the timeframe to do so; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [21590/25]

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.

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 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 also remains 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 399 of these classes have already been sanctioned for the 2025/26 school year. Of these six are in Monaghan, four at primary and two at post primary level. This will add to the 54 special classes currently in operation in the county Monaghan. The vast majority of these classes have a teacher/student ratio of 1:6.

As you are aware a new special school will also open in County Monaghan for 2025/26 school year, I understand that the school will initially admit 18 students and the application window for admissions closed on 31 March. A number of information events for parents were held jointly by the ETB and the NCSE in recent weeks. My department and the local ETB will continue to review and assess the accommodation options available to allow the new special school to grow and expand over the next few years.

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.

The department and NCSE have begun planning for the 2026/27 school year. When looking to provide additional capacity the department’s preferred option is to increase provision in existing special schools if possible and are looking at mainstream schools with available accommodation with no existing special class.

Part of the forward planning process as to where new classes, schools or expansion is required 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. Consideration is also given to the information the NCSE hold at local level on the number of children seeking a special placement in a region.

My department and the NCSE are committed to ensuring that sufficient special education placements remain available for children with special educational needs.