Seán Fleming (Laois, Fianna Fail)
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1115. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if a response will issue to a matter raised in correspondence by a school (details supplied); and if she will make a statement on the matter. [42397/25]

Michael Moynihan (Cork North-West, Fianna Fail)
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The National Council for Special Education (NCSE) is, in the first instance, the primary body responsible for the matter the Deputy has raised. Deputies are also welcome to raise such queries with the NCSE directly through their dedicated Oireachtas query line atoireachtasqueries@ncse.ie.

Schools have been notified of their allocations of special education teaching (SET) posts and special needs assistants (SNAs) for the next school year. It is open to any school which feels like it has insufficient support to meet the needs of its students to submit to the NCSE a request seeking a review of its allocation. Detailed information on the NCSE's review process is published on the NCSE's website, ncse.ie/sna-review-mainstream.

The NCSE actively encourage expressions of interest from schools to open special classes, and I appreciate and commend the efforts taken by boards of management in expressing their interest. However, it is not always possible to open a special class in every school that expresses an interest.

When assessing the needs in the local area, the NCSE identify schools in the neighbouring vicinity with available special class vacancies or capacity and assess their capability with consideration to demographical and statistical data. Planning as to where new provision is best placed has started for the 2026/27 school year.

Parents seeking special class placements for their children are advised to contact the NCSE locally for planning purposes. The NCSE has a dedicated email address parentnotify@ncse.ie with which parents can make initial contact, submit reports and provide consent forms directly. This ensures local special educational needs organiser (SENOs) have complete and up-to-date information when assisting with placements. Parents can also contact their local SENOs directly using the contact information available on the NCSE's website.