Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
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427. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the estimated completion date for new special classes at schools (details supplied); and when the school will commence for children with additional needs who were due to start in these classes [51241/25]

Helen McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael)
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The schools to which the Deputy refers have been granted capital funding for the provision of Special Educational Needs Classrooms (SEN), under my Department’s SEN Reconfiguration and Modular Accommodation programme.

This programme involves the use of Project Management supports which is designed to enable the accommodation to be provided as quickly as possible and help ease the administrative workload for school authorities in relation to the management and delivery of projects.

Rogerson Reddan (RR) and Kerrigan Sheanon Newman (KSN) have been appointed, from my Department’s Framework, to design and tender the projects at the schools in question. This is a collaborative process between the Project Manager, School Authority and the Department.

The first school in question is in the early stages of development with an estimated completion date of Q1 2026 for the provision of additional accommodation. Communication is on-going with the school authority and project manager to progress the project on BCMS (Building Control Management System). The school authority as client and landowner has the responsibility to initiate the works on BCMS.

The second school in question has a reconfiguration project which is nearing completion and it is expected that the accommodation will be handed over for occupation at the start of next week.

My Department is fully aware of the urgency in respect of this accommodation and will be working closely with the Project Managers and School Authorities to keep them updated on overall project delivery and timelines.

Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
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428. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the number of second level special class and special school places available in Dublin 9, 11 and 17 in 2025; and the projection for September 2026. [51242/25]

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.

The NCSE is, in the first instance, the primary body responsible for the matter the Deputy has raised. Deputies are welcome to raise such queries with the NCSE directly through their dedicated Oireachtas query line at oireachtasqueries@ncse.ie.

The NCSE advise that 407 new special classes were sanctioned for the 2025/26 school year. Of these 103 are in County Dublin, 81 at primary and 22 at post primary level. the vast majority of these classes are autism classes and have a student teacher ratio of 1:6. The NCSE publish a list of all special classes sanctioned broken down by school type and location on their .?

Looking forward my department and the NCSE have begun preparatory work in relation to planning for the provision of further new special class and special school places for the 2026/27 school year and beyond. A key focus will be targeting post-primary schools with none or just one special class to open new special classes.

In order to support the NCSE and forward planning my department published Circular 0039/2025. This circular informs school management and patrons of 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 is actively communicating this requirement nationally also.

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.

Parents can make initial contact, submit reports and provide consent forms directly via the NCSE’s website, emailing parentsnotify@ncse.ie or calling 01 603 3346.