2026-02-12

92. Deputy Darren O'Rourke asked the Minister for Education and Youth the number of children notified to the NCSE before the October parent notification deadline; the number of children notified to the NCSE after the October deadline; the number of those children currently without an offer of a school place for September 2026; the measures she is taking to address this to ensure every child has an appropriate school place; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [11341/26]

The Government is committed to continuing the acceleration of the provision of additional special class and special school places for 2026-27 by providing at least 3,000 new spaces in locations which are best meeting the existing and future demand. The provision of timely information is a key requirement to support the forward planning of new special education provision. Budget 2026 provides funding for over 400 new special classes and at least 400 new special school places for the 2026-27 school year. The NCSE has sanctioned over 301 special classes so far this year to commence in September 2026, with more planned in the coming weeks. I commend the Department and the NCSE for the work they are doing in this regard. This is months ahead of last year and should provide greater clarity for parents. To support the NCSE and forward planning, the Department of education published Circular 39/2025. This circular informs school management and patrons of measures introduced to support forward planning and reiterates the need for parents to inform the NCSE through the parent notification process that they are seeking a special school placement for their child. This year, to facilitate earlier sanctioning of classes for the 2026-27 school year, an earlier date of 1 October was set for parents to complete the process. The NCSE undertook significant work at local and national level to ensure that families and schools were aware of the timeline and process. Based on the volume of applications received by 1 October, it would appear there was a good awareness of the date and it is clear there is an increased demand for special education placements compared with previous years. The NCSE advises that a significant number of children and young people coming through the parent notification process and seeking a special class or special school place for the 2026-20 school year are already enrolled in schools and are being supported by existing special education teachers and special needs assistants. I am please to confirm that this week, the NCSE has this week recommenced the issuing of letters of eligibility to children and young people who have made contact with them after the 1 October timeline.

Gabhaim buíochas leis an Aire Stáit. He did not give the numbers in response to the question I asked - the number of children who had applied pre- and post-October and the number of those children who have an offer of a school place or, more importantly at this stage, do not have an offer. It is that question of unmet need. When I raised this with the Taoiseach last week, he said both the Minister and Minister of State had reported to Cabinet that there were huge numbers applying to the NCSE and that it was a significant increase on last year. What are those numbers? Will the system be able to respond to ensure every child has an appropriate school place for September? There is real concern, and I would be grateful if the Minister of State could outline the process. I very much welcome the fact that letters of eligibility are beginning to be reissued. I have a long list of people who will be eager to get those letters of eligibility and they are eligible for them. What do they do?

The NCSE is currently working through to make sure that the letters of eligibility are being issued to those who contacted it after 1 October. The Taoiseach is right in reflecting what both the Minister, Deputy Naughton, and I have seen as the huge increase in the number of children who have contacted the NCSE, both prior to and post 1 October. To reiterate, 1 October was hugely significant in order that we have clear vision of the demand that was within the system. Last year, it was 1 February. We have an awful lot of work done over the past four months. We are very committed. Last year, there was continuous talk right through the summer about numbers. We gave a commitment here and at committee that we would work to ensure that we had a place and a pathway for every child. That is what we are going do and we are not going to have an auction right through until September. We gave a commitment last year. We worked extremely hard on it - both the Department and the NCSE. It is the same because we have sight of what the challenges are and we are working right through system to make sure we are meeting the needs of every child and every family.

I welcome the students from Lucan Educate Together school and their teachers. I have been led to believe they wrote to the Minister about solar panels in their school.

Another job for the Minister.

Coming from the Gallery.

That is it. There are significant issues. In fact, I would say the crisis in special education is worse this year than it has ever been. We are hearing that there is a huge increase. The October deadline was seen as an opportunity, and rightly so, for many children in the school system to get an appropriate school place. A number of the people I am dealing with are in mainstream, for example, looking for a place in a special class or in a special class looking for a place in a special school. The issue of letters of eligibility remains a major one. There are a number of other things happening in special education that are of deep concern, for instance, the issue of the closure of early intervention classes and the redesignation in mild and general learning disability special schools. The slashing of SNAs is reported in schools across the State, including in the Minister of State's constituency, where there are proposals for a huge number of SNAs to be lost. What does the Minister of State say in relation to that?

On the seriousness with which the NCSE and the Department are taking the numbers, we have worked throughout - right up to almost Christmas, to 23 December - to make sure we had sight of what figures were and how we are going to work on it. At the end of this discussion, there are children and there are families and it is hugely important we give certainty to them. As the Deputy quite rightly acknowledged, we brought back the date to 1 October. There is huge investment in special education to ensure the needs of children with additional educational needs are being met. We are heading for almost 25,000 SNAs across the system. We are looking at where SNAs are deployed. It is the first time in a long time that we have had a full review because we want to ensure that the need is being met but we have a colossal amount of investment in SNAs. That has increased many times over the past three, four or five years. We understand the challenges that are within the special education system and we are meeting them head on.