Ruairí Ó Murchú (Louth, Sinn Fein)
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396. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if she is aware that children with disabilities are frequently granted exemptions from studying Irish in order to access special educational needs support; if she accepts that this practice effectively denies these children access to the Irish language curriculum on the basis of their disability; if she will outline the steps she is taking to ensure that children with disabilities can access Irish language education on an equal basis with their peers and also receive support for their disability; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [56873/25]

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.

Updated and revised Guidelines for Post-­Primary Schools Supporting Young People with Special Educational Needs in Mainstream Classes were issued to all schools on the 10th December 2024.

The guidelines are available at assets.gov.ie/static/documents/Guidelines-for-post-primary-schools.pdf.pdf

All schools are required to adhere to these guidelines to ensure effective provision for students with an identified special education learning need.

The special education teaching allocation provided to schools is an additional resource, which is ring­fenced for the sole purpose of providing additional support to young people whom the school has identified as having special educational needs, which are recorded in the School Provision Plan for Young People with Special Educational Needs

The School Provision Plan for Young People with Special Educational Needs is the mechanism by which schools record the special educational needs of young people receiving additional teaching support.

The importance of providing well-timed, appropriate and targeted support to young people with special educational needs is crucial to their development and their long-term life prospects.

Therefore, it is critical that all schools deploy the additional special education teaching resources effectively to meet the needs of those identified in the School Provision Plan for Young People with Special Educational Needs underpinned by the Continuum of Support framework.

The inappropriate deployment of special education teaching hours allocated to a school for purposes other than intended deprives young people with special educational needs of direct access to these resources.

This can impact negatively on the learning outcomes of the most vulnerable young people in our education system.

Effective provision for young people with special educational needs is situated within an inclusive whole school framework. This is underpinned by effective teaching and learning for all, and meaningful collaboration and engagement between teachers, parents/guardians, young people, and other professionals, where appropriate.

Page 17 of the updated guidelines for post primary are very explicit that “Under no circumstances should an exemption from the study of Irish be used as a prerequisite to accessing additional special education teaching support”.