Michael Cahill (Kerry, Fianna Fail)
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818. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the number of ASD class places currently available in County Kerry; and the plans that exist to expand provision before the 2026 academic year. [45451/25]

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. This includes continuing to expand special education provision nationwide.

407 new special classes have been sanctioned by the National Council for Special Education (NCSE) for the 2025/26 school year. Of these 16 are in County Kerry, 9 at primary level and 7 at post-primary level. This brings to 114 the number of special classes currently in operation in the county and to 3,741 the number nationwide. The vast majority of these classes are autism classes and have a teacher/student ratio of 1:6. There are also 3 special schools in Kerry with approximately 290 students enrolled.

It is important that parents seeking special class placements for their children contact the NCSE locally for planning purposes. Parents can make initial contact, submit reports and provide consent forms directly via the NCSE’s emailing or calling 01 603 3346.

This ensures local special educational needs organisers (SENOs) have complete and up-to-date information when examining where new provision is best placed. Parents can also contact their local SENOs directly using the contact information available on the NCSE's website.

An earlier date of 1 October has been set in which parents must do so if seeking placement for the 2026/27 school year. This notification will provide the NCSE with valuable information as to which students 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 earlier date will 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.

In order to ensure new special classes can open as quickly as possible the NCSE will continue to prioritise working with medium and larger primary schools which have available accommodation, and do not have an existing special class. This approach maximises the use of existing space which can be reconfigured efficiently while also ensuring that new provision continues to be established. The increased number of schools with special classes provides parents with greater choice and it will also reduce the distances that some children are travelling to access a special class place.

Michael Cahill (Kerry, Fianna Fail)
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819. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the coordination in place between her Department and the Department of Children, Disability and Equality to ensure children with autism have continuity of support between preschool and primary school settings. [45452/25]

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.

As you are aware there are a number of cross-government initiatives supporting children with special educational needs. Initiatives such as the Autism Innovation Strategy and the enhanced in school therapy support pilot have all been recently introduced to better support children and young people with disabilities and special educational needs. This Government is committed to bolstering this level of collaboration.

Regarding children transitioning from early years into primary school the Department of Children, Disability and Equality shares aggregated anonymised data with my department on the numbers of children in services who have availed of Access and Inclusion Model (AIM) level 7 supports through the Early Childhood Care and Education Programme (ECCE) programme. This data sharing has provided insights to the National Council for Special Education (NCSE) to help prepare and plan the appropriate provision required in local areas for children transitioning into primary school.

Further engagement continues regarding the provision of relevant data on individual children from the early years sector to the NCSE. It is envisioned that this data could enable the NCSE to improve its forward planning. Work is ongoing between the Department of Children, Disability and Equality and the NCSE to put in place a data sharing agreement that will enable improved transfer of centrally held relevant data on individual children that will enable the NCSE to improve its forward planning to provide supports to these children when transitioning to primary school.

Under the parents notify process, parents of children seeking a special class or special school place are asked to notify the NCSE. The NCSE are reaching out to families at local level and are highlighting the process and the 1st October 2025 deadline via media channels.

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.