Michael Cahill (Kerry, Fianna Fail)
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486. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills to expedite the opening of an autism unit in a school in County Kerry (details supplied); and if she will make a statement on the matter. [48123/25]

Michael Moynihan (Cork North-West, Fianna Fail)
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Enabling children with special educational needs to receive an appropriate education is a priority for this Government. It is also a key priority for me, my department and for the National Council for Special Education (NCSE).

The vast majority of children with special educational needs are supported to attend mainstream classes with their peers. Where children with more complex needs require additional supports, special class and special school places are provided.

This is in keeping with policy on an inclusive education, which promotes that children will be supported to receive an education in the most inclusive setting possible.

Parents seeking special class placements for their children are advised to contact the NCSE locally for planning purposes. For the 2026/27 school year parents should do so by the 1 Oct 2025. Parents can make initial contact, submit reports and provide consent forms directly via the NCSE’s ncse.ie/notify-ncse-special-class-special-school emailing parentsnotify@ncse.ie or calling 01 603 3346.

This ensures local special educational needs organisers (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.

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.

The NCSE acknowledge that circumstances may change, and schools not sanctioned this year will remain as a potential option for future classes. Local SENOs remain available to assist and advise parents of children with special educational needs.

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.

Liam Quaide (Cork East, Social Democrats)
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487. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the number of applications received for the school term 2025-2026 for a special education class, in a mainstream school or a special school; and the number of children who are projected to not be able to access a school place in the community in which they live. [48157/25]

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) 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.

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.

Almost 3,300 verified notifications for a special class or special school place were received by the NCSE under the new parents notification process by mid-February 2025. Through the creation of over 2,700 new special class and special school places and the approximate 1,200 places available through the normal annual movement of students from primary to post-primary and finishing post-primary and special schools, there is sufficient capacity available.

The NCSE has advised my department that all children and young people outside of Dublin seeking a special school or special class place have now been assigned a school place. They are working very closely with the with a very small number of remaining families in Dublin to access available special class places.

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.

Liam Quaide (Cork East, Social Democrats)
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488. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the cost of taxis in 2023, 2024 and to date in 2025 transporting children to special education placements due to a lack of provision in their locality, broken down by geographical area. [48158/25]

Michael Moynihan (Cork North-West, Fianna Fail)
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The School Transport Scheme is a significant operation managed by Bus Éireann on behalf of the Department of Education and Youth.

The information requested by the Deputy is not readily available. However, officials from the School Transport Section of my Department will forward the information directly to the Deputy as soon as it is available.