Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
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1140. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the action she has taken to ensure that there will be an appropriate special class for a group of students (details supplied) in the Dún Laoghaire area. [42524/25]

Michael Moynihan (Cork North-West, Fianna Fail)
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The Department provides for a range of placement options and supports for schools and students with special educational needs in order to ensure that wherever a child is enrolled, they will have access to an appropriate education. This includes special classes and special schools designated for children with mild, moderate, and severe or profound learning disabilities.

In order to access these classes the student must have a professional report or recommendation stating a need for this level of support. A diagnosis such as Down's syndrome is not required.

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. 2,700 new places have been created in 2025 and these, together with the over 1,200 existing places which have become available due to children and young people moving on from primary schools and post primary schools, will mean that close to 4,000 places are available for the coming school year.

407 new special classes are being provided for the coming school year. Of these 103 are in County Dublin, 81 at primary and 22 at post primary level. This will add to the 602 special classes currently in operation in the county. This will bring the number of special classes in the county to 705. There are also 40 special schools in Dublin with approximately 2,600 students enrolled. Two of the five new special schools for the 2025/26 school year will open in Lucan and Belmayne also.

As demand for new special classes at post-primary level is expected to increase significantly over the next few years, due to increasing demographics and increasing prevalence rates, my Department and the NCSE have engaged with post-primary stakeholders in relation to the provision of special classes.

In order to support the NCSE and forward planning my Department recently published Circular 0039/2025. This circular informs school management and patrons of new measures introduced to support forward planning going forward and reiterates the need for parents to inform the NCSE that they are seeking a special educational placement for their child. An earlier date of 1 October has been set in which parents must do so. This notification will provide the NCSE with valuable information as to which children will continue to require a special class as they progress to post primary level and details on students who require a place for the first time. The NCSE will be actively communicating this requirement nationally also.

The earlier date will also allow for earlier sanctioning of classes for the 2026/27 school year, and it is the aim of the NCSE to sanction the majority of new special classes by 31 December 2025.