Seán Ó Fearghaíl (Kildare South, Fianna Fail)
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486. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the percentage of the €3 billion funding for special education in budget 2026 which will be spent on new measures; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [61136/25]

Michael Moynihan (Cork North-West, Fianna Fail)
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Over €3 billion has been provided for special education in Budget 2026 and this will be spent supporting children with special educational needs.

As the Deputy may be aware, in line with standard practice, the final allocation of funding for my Department for 2026 will be set out in the 2026 Revised Estimates Volume (REV) which is due to be published later this year. Further details on the 2026 allocations for my Department will be available after the 2026 REV process is complete.

However, as an overview it will ensure that specialist capacity continues to grow by providing 3,000 specialist places. The majority of these places will be available in special classes within mainstream schools. It will increase our special educational posts by 860 special education teacher and over 1,700 special needs assistant (SNA) posts. This will mean we will have over 46,500 professionals dedicated to supporting students with special educational needs in our schools. This is one of the highest annual increases in posts to date and is a firm reminder of this government’s commitment to supporting students with special educational needs.

Budget 2026 has also afforded a number of new initiatives such as funding for the roll out of the Education Therapy Service (ETS), the introduction of extra special education teaching hours for post-primary schools to support coordination and transition efforts and indeed a special school package to support the unique challenges these schools face.