2026-06-17

I thank the Minister for taking this. When we talk about finding an appropriate place for children, particularly those with special needs and challenging needs, it is a constant battle for those parents. It is a constant battle even at times for elected representatives who are contacted in relation to this, whether it is contacting the special educational needs organiser, SENO, contacting schools individually or even in instances when we have to bring it to the floor of Leinster House. Obviously, I have made the Minister of State aware of some of these cases and if we are lucky enough to meet afterwards and deal with this, unfortunately, there will be more names I have to add to that list. I will use these as examples. Again, we are not only talking about children going from primary into secondary school where the roadmap should be a lot clearer and straightforward on the basis that they are not coming from Mars. They are already in the system. We also suffer from the circumstance where a child is probably put in an inappropriate place and that may fall apart, and then they are left with no school place whatsoever. We are talking about cases where the educational welfare officer, EWO, is checking why the child is not at school and realises there is an issue. There is then no pressure on the parent from the point of view that the child is not at school, yet there is no solution. That is not taking away from the work done by SENOs and EWOs, but we need a far better system to actually deliver. I am going to use a couple of examples. One is an eight-year-old named Hollybelle from Dundalk who has Down syndrome and an autism diagnosis. At this point in time, she has mobility issues and is non-verbal, so I am not taking away from the complexity of the case. She was given a special class within a school. That fell apart and now, months on, she does not have a place. Unfortunately, there has been a huge number of representations made by her mother over and back, particularly with the National Council For Special Education, NCSE, which I have contacted also. However, we are not in a place that we have a solution. Another example is Tristan, who is a 12-year-old from Dundalk. The recommendation is for a special school or special class catering to autism spectrum disorder, ASD. I could talk about the multiple representations this mother has made to special schools and to schools with units and, in fairness, others and I have been in contact with all the services and there have been parliamentary questions placed. In some cases, it is schools that have not necessarily had their requisite ASD places or classes commissioned. Nonetheless, the Minister of State can imagine the pressure that these parents are under. I am dealing with a young boy of 12 years old from Dundalk who is on the autism spectrum and there is no place whatsoever. His father has been in and out of my office and is under severe pressure. There is another man with an 11-year-old boy. The school place he had previously then fell apart and at this point in time the child has been languishing at home. There are sometimes issues that need to be dealt with around transport and whatever. I accept that-----

I thank the Deputy. He will have a further two minutes.

I thank Deputy Ó Murchú for raising this question regarding County Louth. I will first give him an overview of where we are and then address the specifics, if that is okay. We are extremely committed to the provision of additional places for children with exceptional educational needs. The number of special classes provided across the country has doubled over the last few years. In addition, 16 new special schools have been established in recent years. School capacity has also been expanded across a number of schools nationwide. Four of these special schools are in County Louth, educating approximately 450 students with complex educational needs. These schools are supported by the Department of education and the National Council for Special Education, NCSE. As the Deputy will be aware, an earlier notification deadline was introduced last year to support forward planning. This also meant that the NCSE was equipped earlier with local information as to what students would be leaving school, transitioning to post-primary specialised places or seeking specialised places and entering the education system for the first time. This information is crucial when examining where places must be provided to meet demand. The National Council for Special Education started sanctioning special classes for the 2026-27 school year in January, several months earlier than the previous year. To date, 565 new special classes have been sanctioned by the NCSE for the 2026-27 school year. By way of information, between September 2025 and September 2026, close to 1,000 extra special classes will have been sanctioned and opened across the country. The vast majority of these new special classes are for children with autism. The new special class sanctions mean there will be over 4,300 special classes operating in mainstream schools across the country in the next school year, up from 1,836 in 2020. The earlier notification has given us insight into the need. The Department has worked extremely well with the NCSE and with school communities across the country to open extra classes at both primary and post-primary levels. On the issues the Deputy has raised regarding education, we have those who are entering primary school for the first time and those who are transitioning from primary to post-primary school. These are the pinch points or challenges we face. We are acutely aware of the breakdown of places. We are working extremely well with the new teams within the NCSE across all counties to make sure we are meeting the needs of children with additional educational requirements. The Deputy mentioned a number of children. While it would not be appropriate for me to discuss these cases on the floor of the Dáil, the Deputy shared the details with me yesterday evening and I will certainly take these matters up and respond to him offline. I fully understand. One of my motivations in my role is that, a few short years ago, I met a parent at a school gate whose child was finishing primary school in June of that particular school year. This parent did not know where that child would go to post-primary school that September. That has really guided me in making sure we have appropriate places. On being appointed, I looked at moving the date to earlier in the year so that we would have earlier sight of educational requirements. We are working to ensure that again next year. It is proper to engage in forward planning to make sure we have sight of the need.

We all welcome the attempts to streamline the system. The problem is that too many children are still falling between stools. I am not taking away from the particular issues but I spoke about Hollybelle. One of the schools she applied to was a special school that she did not qualify for. Her intellectual disability was seen as too severe. As much as we have an insufficient number of places for those who have autism - I accept that there have been increases, which is necessary - there are also a number of children who fall into the bracket of intellectual disability who have no place to go. We really need to look at this across the board and come up with a comprehensive solution. The Minister of State can imagine the absolute disaster this is for families and the pressure they are under. I spoke to Tristan's mother. I believe she will be here later to protest because she is at the end of her tether and does not know where to go. I welcome the fact that we will continue this conversation offline. I did not expect to hear the solutions in here today. However, we need to get them. On a point of information, when we talk about situations breaking down, a mother wrote to me about her son Matthew, who is going to secondary school in September. She could not get him a place in an ASD class, so he has to go into a mainstream class. The problem is that the SNA co-ordinator has told her that they cannot promise him SNA access as there are only six SNAs available between first year and sixth year. She has detailed Matthew's issues to me. We are going to have cases like that across the board. We need to find a way to deliver. I will follow up with the Minister of State afterwards.

There are a number of issues to discuss. The Deputy mentioned a case. I do not want to go into the specifics on the floor of the Dáil but that is one of the pieces we are concerned about. We are concerned about meeting profound levels of need within an appropriate school. We are doing a number of things. We have sight of the need earlier in the school year. We will continue with that programme over the next while. We are also gathering information from other Departments, including information from the access and inclusion model and the domiciliary care section, to make sure that we have full sight of this need, particularly at primary level. In addition, during the school year, school placements may not work out for a whole variety of reasons. We really need to work on that. While primary schools right across the country have done a huge amount of work with regard to additional special classes and working through the system, we have more work to do with regard to post-primary schools. Students will be going from primary school to post-primary school. We will be looking very carefully at that issue over the next while. We are also looking at where placements break down and the supports we can provide through the NCSE, the SENOs and team leaders right across the country. The Deputy asked about County Louth. We are investing in special schools and special classes right across County Louth. Of course, we are supporting students in mainstream education as well. I assure the Deputy of that. It is extremely important. I know and understand the pressures families are under, particularly as we are now galloping towards the end of the school year with a new one on the horizon. Families need certainty on that. I will follow up on the queries the Deputy has shared with me and report back to him.