Grace Boland (Dublin Fingal West, Fine Gael)
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748. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the number of sanctioned autism classes for Dublin Fingal West that will be open for the start of the school term September 2025, in Dublin Fingal West; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [44463/25]

Grace Boland (Dublin Fingal West, Fine Gael)
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749. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the number of children in need of a special school place in Dublin Fingal West waiting for a school place for September 2025, in Dublin Fingal West; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [44464/25]

Grace Boland (Dublin Fingal West, Fine Gael)
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750. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the number of children in need of an autism school place in Dublin Fingal West that are waiting on a school place for September 2025, in Dublin Fingal West; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [44465/25]

Michael Moynihan (Cork North-West, Fianna Fail)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 748, 749 and 750 together.

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) is the national agency with responsibility for the provision of special education places. This year the NCSE has sanctioned 407 new special classes for the coming school year bringing to 3,741 the number of special classes in our schools. There are new classes in every county in Ireland and with the number of special classes doubling in the last five years, this now means that there are more classes than ever ensuring greater numbers of children can access places in their local school. Furthermore the number of special class places in our schools will exceed demand.

Combined with 300 new special school places this brings to 2,700 the number of new school places for children with special educational needs.

Of the 407 new special classes 103 are in County Dublin, 81 at primary and 22 at post primary level. This brings to 705 the number of special classes currently in operation in the county. This brings to 3,741 the number of special classes in operation nationwide. The vast majority of these classes are autism classes. The NCSE publish a list of all special classes broken down by type and geographic area on their website () .

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.

This year, the approach taken was to maximise the use of existing accommodation in schools to ensure new special classes could open as quickly as possible for the 2025/26 school year. The NCSE also prioritised schools which did not have an existing special class. ?This has ensured that 80% of the new classes sanctioned are in schools with available accommodation.

Where schools require modular accommodation for new special classes, these projects are being fast-tracked by my department to deliver this accommodation as early as possible. In a small number of instances where a delay in new special class accommodation is expected such as where new modular classrooms are being provided, contingency arrangements are being made with the relevant schools with the support of the NCSE.

The NCSE has advised my department that all bar a very small number of children seeking a special school or special class place and known to the NCSE by the mid-February timeline under the new parents notification process have now been assigned a school place at the start of this school year. They are working very closely with a very small number of remaining families in Dublin to access placements. The NCSE advise that sufficient capacity has been created for all children known to them by the mid-February timeline under the new parents notification process.

My department and the NCSE are committed to ensuring that sufficient special education placements will be available for children for the coming school year and future years.

Grace Boland (Dublin Fingal West, Fine Gael)
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751. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the number of children in need of a reading school place in Dublin Fingal West that are waiting on a school place for September 2025, in Dublin Fingal West; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [44466/25]

Grace Boland (Dublin Fingal West, Fine Gael)
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918. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the specific steps being taken to expand specialist literacy support such as reading classes or workshops in Fingal, given its status as the area with one of the youngest and fastest-growing child populations; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [46248/25]

Michael Moynihan (Cork North-West, Fianna Fail)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 751 and 918 together.

At present, there are four special schools, and fourteen special classes attached to mainstream schools to support students with a specific learning disability such as severe dyslexia. These schools and classes are mainly located in our largest urban areas. I want to acknowledge the work they do, however, there is no plan to establish more reading classes/schools at present. It is important to note these schools and classes were established at a time when there were much fewer additional supports in mainstream schools.

In working to develop a more inclusive education system, we want to support students to attend their local mainstream schools. This means that children can be educated with their peers and are not required to travel long distances to attend special schools or classes. 15,000 special education teachers have been provided to enable schools to achieve this. In practical terms this means schools get a substantial additional teaching allocation to support children with special education needs who are in mainstream classes.

The additional resources are intended to support students with the greatest level of need, including those with a specific learning disability such as dyslexia.

Of course, I recognise the importance of building the capacity of teachers in mainstream schools to meet the needs of all students. To support this, over 300 places are funded each year for teachers to attend post-graduate special education needs programmes. The National Council for Special Education (NCSE) offers dedicated professional learning opportunities for teachers supporting students with additional needs. The National Educational Psychological Service (NEPS) also provides professional learning opportunities that are available to all primary and post primary school teachers on supporting children and young people with special educational needs.

Funding is also made available to schools for the purchase of specialised equipment to assist children. Schools can apply to the NCSE, through their local special educational needs organiser (SENO) for such support.

The need for any additional provision or resources for schools to support students with dyslexia is kept under constant review by the NCSE.