Peter Cleere (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fianna Fail)
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109. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills for an update on the roll-out of new ASD classes in secondary schools. [30838/25]

Michael Moynihan (Cork North-West, Fianna Fail)
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The Government are fully committed to ensuring that every child with special educational needs is supported to achieve their full potential.

399 new special class have been sanctioned for the 2025/26 school year - of these 112 are at post-primary level. These new special classes were announced earlier this year than in previous years and will add to the existing 997 post primary special classes nationwide. It also increases the overall number of post-primary special classes by 110% since 2020.

Both Minister McEntee and I continue to meet the National Council for Special Education and senior Department officials each week to review the progress being made on new special class and special school places.

The NCSE advise that the children and young people known to them seeking a post-primary special class placement in Co Kilkenny have been offered a school place for the coming school year.

80% of all new classes are being established in existing accommodation. A small number of post-primary schools opening new special classes for the coming school year, will however require additional modular accommodation.

Schools with modular accommodation projects for new special classes are being fast-tracked to deliver this accommodation as early as possible.

Where a modular project is not expected to be completed for September 2025, interim contingency arrangements will be put in place to ensure provision is available in time.

The NCSE and the department will continue to monitor this issue closely and work with the relevant individual schools to enable temporary arrangements.

Minister McEntee and I asked that the Department and the NCSE to bring forward all timelines for the 2026/2027 school year to ensure better planning and, importantly, to ensure that parents and children are accepted into new special classes at a much earlier point.

Revised timelines have been agreed and the NCSE have begun planning for the 2026/27 school year and to support this work my department recently wrote to all schools informing them of new measures being introduced to support forward planning.

Importantly, the requirement for parents and schools to inform the NCSE when a specialist placement is required was reiterated.

An earlier date of October 1^st has been set in which parents and schools must advise the NCSE.

This notification will provide the NCSE with clear information as to which children will require a special class particularly as they progress to post primary level.

The earlier date should also allow for the earlier sanctioning of classes for the 2026/27 school year. It is the aim to sanction the majority of new special classes for the 2026/2027 school year by December 31^st 2025.