Paul Lawless (Mayo, Aontú)
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257. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the measures being taken to ensure that every child with additional needs is guaranteed a suitable school placement, given the severe shortage of places in special schools in County Mayo.; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [67655/25]

Paul Lawless (Mayo, Aontú)
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258. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the plans to expand special school capacity in County Mayo; and the timeline and resources that have been allocated for additional classrooms and staff. [67656/25]

Paul Lawless (Mayo, Aontú)
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259. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the steps her Department will take to address the growing demand for special school places in County Mayo. [67657/25]

Paul Lawless (Mayo, Aontú)
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260. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the analysis that has been carried out to project the demand for special school places over the next five years, and if the Minister will publish that projected analysis. [67658/25]

Michael Moynihan (Cork North-West, Fianna Fail)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 257 to 260, inclusive, together.

The National Council for Special Education (NCSE) is the statutory body responsible for the provision of special education and allocating supports for students with special educational needs.

Through the accelerated provision of additional special class and special school places over recent years, there are now over 30,000 students enrolled in special classes and special schools. 2,700 new places were created for the 2025/26 school year and these, together with the over 1,200 existing places due to students moving on from primary schools and post-primary schools, has meant that close to 4,000 specialist places were made available for the 2025/26 school year.

407 new special classes were sanctioned for the 2025/26 school year. Of these 3 are in County Mayo, all at primary level.

This brings to 76 the number of special classes currently in operation in the county. There are also 4 special schools in County Mayo with approximately 161 students enrolled.

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.

There continues to be an increasing need to provide additional special school places to support students with complex needs. To meet this need, sixteen new special schools have been established in recent years, and capacity has been expanded in a number of others. Five of these were established for the 2025/26 school year in counties, Cork, Dublin (2), Monaghan and Tipperary.

The department and NCSE have already begun planning in relation to further expanding special school capacity for the 2026/27 school year. It is estimated that a further 300 new special school places may be required each year for the coming years.

When looking to provide additional capacity the department’s preferred option is to increase provision in existing special schools if possible. Where this is not possible in a region, the department and NCSE will consider the need to establish a new special school.

In planning for increased special school places, my department and the NCSE review all of the available data on the growing need for special school places across the country. This involves a detailed analysis of enrolment trends and the potential for existing special schools in a region to expand.

My department and the NCSE are committed to ensuring that sufficient special education placements remain available for students with special educational needs and will continue to review and monitor the situation in County Mayo and indeed nationwide as to where new special schools are required.