Written answers

Tuesday, 10 June 2025

Department of Education and Skills

Special Educational Needs

Photo of Shónagh Ní RaghallaighShónagh Ní Raghallaigh (Kildare South, Sinn Fein)
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596. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the number of primary and post primary schools in the country do not have a special class; the name and counties of same; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [29862/25]

Photo of Michael MoynihanMichael Moynihan (Cork North-West, Fianna Fail)
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For this school year 2024/25 there are 3,335 special classes in 1,633 mainstream schools nationwide - 1,182 mainstream primary schools and 451 mainstream post-primary schools.

For the coming school year 2025/26, 399 additional special classes have been sanctioned to open. This means that there will be over 3,700 special classes in operation in over 1,800 mainstream schools.

Below is a summary of the number of mainstream schools in each county not providing special class for the 2025/26 school year.

No. of Mainstream Schools not providing special class in 2025/26

County Primary Post-Primary Total
Carlow 18 3 21
Cavan 51 3 54
Clare 70 2 72
Cork 156 17 173
Donegal 135 8 143
Dublin 168 98 266
Galway 161 13 174
Kerry 89 4 93
Kildare 39 11 50
Kilkenny 41 4 45
Laois 27 0 27
Leitrim 28 2 30
Limerick 68 8 76
Longford 26 1 27
Louth 29 8 37
Mayo 126 12 138
Meath 53 5 58
Monaghan 44 3 47
Offaly 27 0 27
Roscommon 69 2 71
Sligo 54 6 60
Tipperary 97 5 102
Waterford 42 3 45
Westmeath 48 1 49
Wexford 55 8 63
Wicklow 39 6 45
Total 1,760 233 1,993
It must be remembered that a significant number of primary schools are small and may not have the level of need which might warrant the opening of a new special class. For the 2026/2027 school year the NCSE will prioritise the almost 400 or so medium to larger primary schools (principal + 8 teachers) and 233 post-primary schools with no special class, to open new special classes.

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