Pat Buckley (Cork East, Sinn Fein)
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85. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills to instruct a school (details supplied) to open a special class; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [33133/25]

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.

My department works closely with the NCSE on the forward planning of new special classes and additional special school places. Building on successive budgets, Budget 2025 secured funding for up to 400 new special classes in mainstream schools, and an additional 300 special school places for the 2025/26 school year. This will deliver 2,700 new places for children. The NCSE has sanctioned 399 of the new 400 classes and is confident that this new provision when added to existing available provision will meet known demand for the new school year.

This year the NCSE focused on medium and larger primary schools with available accommodation and no existing special class to open a new special class for the 2025/26 school year. This will ensure that classes can open quickly as existing accommodation can be reconfigured in a more streamlined and efficient manner but also that new provision is established in as many schools as possible. This provides parents more options when deciding which schools to apply to and ensures that provision continues to grow in a diverse number of schools across regions. This should also help in reducing the distances that some children are travelling to access a special class place.

However, as in other years where schools have no available accommodation, particularly at post-primary level and there is known demand in a local area, my department will continue to provide additional classroom accommodation to provide necessary places.

The NCSE advise that there are more than sufficient special class places available across schools in County Cork for the coming school year to meet the level of need known to them.

Looking forward, my department and the NCSE have begun preparatory work in relation to planning for the provision of further new special class and special school places for the 2026/27 school year and beyond. The NCSE will be visiting schools in the near future to determine which schools are best placed to accommodate new classes for the 2026/27 school year.

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.