2026-04-23

6. Deputy Roderic O'Gorman asked the Minister for Education and Youth when the report of the Dublin 15 special education task force will be published; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [29032/26]

I thank the Deputy for his question. In 2024, the then Minister of State with responsibility for special education and inclusion established a task force to support the forward planning of special education provision in the Dublin 15 area. I thank all of the task force members, including parents representatives, school principals, school patron representatives and representatives of the HSE, the NCSE and officials from the Departments of children and education, for their work through the school year 2024-2025 in discussing the key issues relating to special education provision. The task force met on ten separate occasions. The key aims of the task force were to advise on how to better plan for the provision of special education places in Dublin 15 for the 2025-2026 school year and beyond, examine better ways to establish the level of need in the area, advise on how special education places can be provided and to examine how a common application system can be established to reduce the burden on parents applying to multiple schools. The task force that supports forward planning of special education provision in the Dublin 15 area submitted its report late last year. The report sets out 21 key recommendations. I am happy that work is progressing in relation to meeting some of the key recommendations of the task force. A new education therapy service is being established. Additional funding has been secured for capitation for schools, with a particular focus on special schools. The State, as set out in the NDP launch earlier this year, is making significant capital funding available to our schools. I am happy to confirm that the report will be published very shortly.

There is real anger about the fact that this report that was handed over to the Department in July still has not been published. The Minister was involved in the establishment of this task force, so I do not need to go into the entire history. Before the 2024 general election, when there was a real crisis in Dublin 15 about lack of places for autism classes and in special schools, the Government, which I was a part of, made a decision to establish the task force to address the issue. The Minister of State set out the huge amount of work that was done by State bodies, but particularly by the representatives of parents and schools in the area. The recommendations are relevant to Dublin 15, but they are also relevant to the wider country. It is not good enough that we still do not have a date for the publication. I thought the Minister of State was going to give me some news there, but we need a specific date for publication and an understanding of how the Department is going to respond to each of the recommendations.

I assure the Deputy that we will be publishing it as a matter of urgency. On the key recommendations, a task force outlined the challenges that were being faced in a particular part of Dublin 15, but it is also representative of the challenges that are being faced across the country. The recommendations that are in it are in relation to investing, understanding the challenges and the need within the communities and to make sure that the whole of the Government and the Department are focused on ensuring that there is provision for special education. An awful lot of work has gone on over the past to ensure that we have school places for children who have special education requirements and to ensure that we have the supports across the country and in Dublin in particular, where there was a huge challenge. A spotlight was put on that area because of the difficulties that were there a couple of years ago. I assure the Deputy that we are looking at the key recommendations in it. The report will be published very shortly. I also assure the Deputy that the recommendations that are in it have been taken on board. We in the Department are working meticulously to make sure that those are implemented.

In Dublin 15, it has been parents and educators who have provided the leadership when it comes to special education. Danu Community Special School has a large number of autism classes. It was driven forward by the Dublin 15 autism group. The common application system, which is where, for the first time, a family only has to apply in one location and that application is sent for autism classes across 18 primary schools was driven forward by the Dublin 15 Principals' Network and Helena Trench in particular. That is why it is so frustrating that these groups gave a huge amount of time to the task force to bring forward these recommendations, which, as the Minister of State said, were put forward in the context of Dublin 15 but have city-wide and national application as well, have not been brought into the public light yet. It is urgent that the report is published. I urge him to do it as quickly as possible and to respect the work that was put into this report.

I give the Deputy a commitment that we will publish it as a matter of urgency. I acknowledge hugely the amount of work that is being put in by the people into the task force by each and every one of the education partners across the sector. The Minister and I have been working since Christmas. Most Monday nights have been spent in meetings in relation to moving forward the education and special education component of it as well to ensure that we are listening to the challenges that are out there. We are taking on board the challenges right across the sector whether it is the SNAs and the school communities, but particularly families and communities that are looking to have the best possible education facilities and educational experience for children with additional needs. I will give a commitment to get that published as a matter of urgency. I reiterate that the recommendations in the report have very much been taken on board by the Government to make sure they are implemented for the best possible education system for children with additional needs.