Liam Quaide (Cork East, Social Democrats)
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425. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the number of suspensions and expulsions in special schools under the patronage of the ETBs in the school years 2021–22, 2022–23 and 2023–24, respectively. [57244/25]

Helen McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael)
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Tusla Education Support Service (TESS) is under the remit of my department.

TESS operates under the Education (Welfare) Act, 2000, a piece of legislation that emphasises the promotion of school attendance, participation and retention. TESS has three strands namely the statutory Educational Welfare Service and the two school support services the Home School Community Liaison scheme and the School Completion Programme. The three TESS strands work together collaboratively with schools, parents and guardians and other relevant services to achieve the best educational outcomes for children and young people.

In line with the Education (Welfare) Act, 2000, all primary schools, including special schools, and post-primary schools must report annually on student non-attendance in primary and post-primary schools. This data is collected using the Tusla Portal hosted by the Child and Family Agency. Data is generated from the Annual Attendance Report (AAR), which provides total students suspended and total students expelled at school level. The data is gathered at an aggregated level and the reports for the 2021/22, 2022/23 and 2023/24 school years are available on the Tusla website at the following link: www.tusla.ie/services/educational-welfare-services/publications/research-and-statistics .