Carol Nolan (Offaly, Independent)
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644. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills when the new ASD class will open at a school (details supplied); and if she will make a statement on the matter. [57878/25]

Michael Moynihan (Cork North-West, Fianna Fail)
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The National Council for Special Education (NCSE) is the statutory body responsible for the provision of special education and allocating supports for children with special educational needs.

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 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 was set for parents to do so.

The earlier date will allow for the 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. It will also allow for work to progress on expanding special school capacity in certain areas.

The NCSE will have a clear picture of the local demand for special class and special school places for the 2026/2027 school year after they review and assess all of the information which has been provided through the parents' notification process which closed on 1 October.

Once the NCSE has fully collated and assessed this information, the NCSE will be in a position to engage with schools across the country to open new special classes. The NCSE will also have due regard to any vacant places in existing special classes in an area and any places that will be become available through the normal movement of children leaving primary or post-primary school.

My Department understands that the school referred to by the Deputy has expressed an interest in opening a new special class for the 2026/2027 school year and this is being considered by the NCSE with due regard to the local level of need and existing capacity.

I would like to stress that the NCSE will continue to support all children made known to them after this date also, however, it is important for planning purposes that we set an earlier timeframe for which the NCSE has as much local knowledge and detail as possible in order to plan what new provision is required.

Albert Dolan (Galway East, Fianna Fail)
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645. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if she will clarify whether the “above-SERC SNA” review process remains in operation under the new SNA allocation guidelines; if schools with autism classes will continue to be able to apply for above-SERC reviews throughout the school year in cases where a child’s needs cannot be met within the standard staffing allocation; and if she will confirm whether principals will be required to redeploy staff from their mainstream SNA allocation to meet above-SERC needs in special classes, given the already limited mainstream SNA ratios in many schools. [57880/25]

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) issues guidance each year to schools regarding SNA reviews and the guidance for 2025/26 school year issued on the 12 September 2025.

It is important to clarify some of the concerns raised since publication of the guidelines.

The process for allocating SNAs has been in place since 2014 and is not changing this year. There has been no freeze on SNAs, in fact the number of SNAs in our schools has increased by 43% in the last 5 years alone.

Schools were issued with their allocations for the 2025/26 school year in June and the SNA review window from 15 September to 7 November relates to schools who believe they do not have sufficient SNAs to support their care needs at present.

A school can apply to the NCSE at any time during the school year, as in previous years, for a review where emerging or new care needs arise

The NCSE has written to all schools since the publication of the guidelines to clarify that a school can request a review during the school year and not just in the review period set out in the guidelines.

The following are the reasons for the timeline of reviews contained in the guidance:

• Supports the earlier announcement of allocations for the 2026/27 school year to align with the release of the annual staffing schedule.
• Management bodies, staff representative bodies, schools and SNA’s have all requested the department to ensure that SNA allocations issue earlier each year and ideally should align with the general staffing allocation in February each year.
• Supports the SNA workforce by giving them early clarity on their roles.
• Facilitates the SNA Redeployment Scheme.

Roderic O'Gorman (Dublin West, Green Party)
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646. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the timeframe for delivery of a suite of autism classes at a school (details supplied); and if she will make a statement on the matter. [57882/25]

Helen McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael)
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The major building project referred to by the Deputy will be delivered under my Department's ADAPT Programme. The ADAPT Programme uses a professional external Project Manager to co-ordinate and drive the Design Team to achieve the best possible timeframe for the project through the stages of Architectural Planning to Tender and Construction.

The Brief for this project is the development of a 32 Classroom Primary School with 4 classrooms for pupils with Special Educational Needs including Pyrite Remediation, the Refurbishment of Existing Buildings and the construction of a New Build Extension and all associated site works, including associated play areas.

The major building project is currently at an early stage of architectural planning - Stage 1 - Preliminary Design, where the design team assess the site and current buildings, and prepare their initial sketch schemes. A preferred design option, including the scope and extent of works to be carried out will be established during this early stage, to be then further detailed and developed and fully cost-planned, before seeking statutory approvals, including planning permission.

Interim Stage 1 architectural workshops were held between the Design Team and the Department in Q4 2023, and the Design Team submitted their Stage 1 report to the Department in late Q4 2023.

Upon review of the report, a further detailed architectural workshop was held between the School Authorities, the Project Manager, Design Team and my Department in February 2024.

Following that meeting, the Design Team were requested to consider my Department's comments in relation to the site and design options presented.

Department Officials and Design Team members have met on site at St. Patrick's National School in attempts to develop appropriate design solutions that will best meet the needs of the school, and being cognisant of the 3rd party occupiers at the same site.

The Design Team are to prepare a revised Stage 1 submission, which upon receipt, will be reviewed, and a Stage 1 Stakeholders meeting will then be arranged.

In July the Government announced a capital allocation of €7.55 billion for the Department of Education and Youth for the period 2026-2030 under the National Development Plan. As part of this NDP allocation my department will place a strong emphasis on provision for children with special educational needs, with a particular focus on meeting annual school place needs. In relation to project rollout for Large-Scale projects and Additional School Accommodation scheme projects, the approach will be to continue to maximise the capacity of the existing school estate as much as possible in the first instance and provide necessary additional capacity through targeted and prioritised project rollout over the course of 2026 to 2030 period to meet the most urgent and prioritised needs. It is planned that circa 80 school building projects will progress to construction across 2026 and 2027 as part of a 2-year rolling programme.

All Government departments are expected to publish their sectoral NDP Implementation Plans in November. My department’s plan will optimise outputs from the NDP allocations, with a strong focus on maximising existing school capacity, progressing priority projects where local capacity across schools in the area is insufficient, and ensuring delivery that is affordable, offers value for money, and meets functional needs.