2026-02-10

Every child is entitled to an education and an appropriate school place. Sadly, many children are being denied this right across County Galway and the State. Children are being left in unsuitable places, not having their needs met and being denied equal opportunities and the chance to realise their full potential. I have been contacted by many parents and schools in relation to the urgent need for increased provision of special school places and special classes locally. I welcome the recent announcements of special classes in places like Clarin College in Athenry, Cummer National School, Corrandrum National School and Killeeneen National School, but there is clear demand for additional classes across Galway East. There are a huge number of areas and schools. Every corner of the county needs increased provision. I will give a couple of examples. In Esker National School, a number of children there have applied for a special class place. Having a class in that school would enable them to remain in their locality. The Minister of State visited that school not too long ago. He knows the needs that are there, the pressure they are under and the difference this and any other additional supports that can be forthcoming to that school would make, as was discussed during that visit. In St. Vincent's in Coolarne, there is demand in the local area. The school has the appropriate space and facilities to provide inclusive education. It has been engaging on this for a number of years. I also met with Ability West recently. One of the key issues for it and the families it works with is the provision of special class places and places in special schools. For example, St. Oliver's Special School in Tuam is totally oversubscribed. Many children are not getting the places they need. Again, the Minister of State has been at that school and is aware of the pressure they are under. I also raise the 1 October deadline for letters of eligibility. This has left in limbo hundreds of children who missed that deadline. They cannot be considered for a special class or special school place because they do not have this letter of eligibility from the National Council for Special Education, NCSE. I have come across a situation locally where the child's professionals and his existing school have all stated that his current school place does not meet his complex needs, yet he cannot be considered for an alternative place. I have raised this situation with the Minister of State's office. These kinds of situations are desperately unfair on these children and their families because they are being left in limbo. It needs to be sorted urgently.

I understand fully the need for specialised provision of education across Galway. The Deputy is quite right. I did visit St. Oliver's and Esker National School recently. I know the points he made in relation to St. Vincent's and the work being done by Ability West. The Deputy also raised an issue here, even though I did not directly respond to it, in relation to equine therapy and the equine centre. I understand that and welcome his interest in it. I will give a small bit of context and then deal with a number of the issues. In County Galway, there are 180 special classes that are now operating providing capacity for over 1,080 students. This includes 12 new special classes for the 2025-26 school year. In addition, 16 new special schools have been established around the country over the last while. Seven of these schools are in County Galway and are educating 352 students with more complex educational needs. These schools are supported by the Department and the NCSE, National Council for Special Education. The NCSE has a clear picture of local demand for special class places for 2026-27 and is reviewing the information. As the Deputy quite rightly outlined, we have a number of announcements in relation to County Galway. I thank the school authorities, the patrons and the management of the schools for their engagement with the NCSE and our Department in relation to this. The NCSE and ourselves will be working very closely with families either before or after 1 October. To be very clear, 1 October was the deadline we brought forward this year. In 2025, the notification date was 1 February. We very much felt this time last year that we were too late within the school year to have identified the children that would have special educational needs at both special classes and special schools. After my appointment this time last year, one of the first decisions we made was to bring in the new 1 October deadline, so that we would have sight of the challenges we have earlier in the school year. That has brought huge benefit to us in terms of the numbers and forward planning. Like previous governments, we have been berated in relation to forward planning but we are doing a huge amount of forward planning. There has been engagement by both the Department and the NCSE with the patron bodies and school authorities right through the summer and beyond. A number of families have come to the NCSE post 1 October. I assure the Deputy we will be working very closely with all families to make sure we can provide the best possible place for them in the 2026-27 school year. The responsibility for that role is something that I take extremely seriously. In my engagement right across the country over the last 12 months, we have visited many schools, as the Deputy outlined. Many of them are looking for additional classes but many have additional classes and are doing amazing work in relation to this. The Minister, Deputy Hildegarde Naughton, and her predecessor, Deputy Helen McEntee, and I have worked extremely closely to ensure we are doing the right thing for children and their families. We have engaged with all Deputies right across the House in making sure the concerns they have, quite rightly, in representing families are brought to our attention. We will try to find a resolution between the NCSE, the Department and ourselves.

There are a number of areas across east Galway, including the ones I mentioned, where there is significant demand and the schools are ready to accommodate those classes. As much as possible, we need to see delivery on the ground. Parents want certainty around what will be available in their local area. As I said, there is huge demand. It is absolutely critical that adequate places are provided. Far too many children are not being provided with the appropriate place for their needs. Again, I urge the Government to resolve the issue of eligibility letters. Our spokesperson, Deputy Darren O'Rourke, has been working on this and raising it tirelessly because parents need certainty for next September. Children should not be locked out of an appropriate school place because of an arbitrary deadline of 1 October. The Minister of State mentioned that further information will be provided on this, but when is the question parents have and are coming to me with. They need certainty on this urgently. For children who are in mainstream schools, it is absolutely vital that appropriate SNA and special education teaching, SET, support is in place. I will give two examples. I recently visited Cahergal National School. In recent years, the number of students has increased from 86 to 124, yet the school's support teaching hours have actually decreased from 38 to 37. All the school staff there work exceptionally hard but they need appropriate teaching hours to be able to properly support their pupils, especially those who need a little extra support. Similarly, Castlehackett National School's recent review of SNA hours was unsuccessful. Again, this is a fantastic school but it is a constant struggle for the teachers and SNAs to support children in the school and meet their needs when they do not receive adequate resources. I ask that these specific cases are looked into also, as well as ensuring we have adequate provision of special class places across the county.

I reassure the Deputy that the NCSE, the Department and ourselves meet on a weekly basis. We have 300 extra classes - 301 to be specific - sanctioned this year for the 2026-27 school year. That is four months earlier than it was previously because, as I outlined, we want to ensure that we have certainty and give information earlier to families. That is very welcome but we also have to work through a number of tranches of special classes to be announced over the next number of weeks. I assure the Deputy we are looking at notifications prior to 1 October. I explained why we brought 1 October forward in the summer and I thank the Deputy's party for welcoming it because it gave a sense we were going to have better planning. I reassure him that we will be working with those notifications both prior to and after 1 October to make sure we have the best possible supports in place. There is a huge demand for special education teachers, support teachers and SNAs within the system. We have almost 25,000 SNAs working within educational services at the moment. We need to make sure that students who need specialised education are getting the best possible supports. I genuinely believe that the State will now put in the proper supports while they are of schoolgoing age. Last week, we announced education therapy services for 45 special schools. The intention and decision taken by the Government was that that would be rolled out to special classes and on to mainstream schools to ensure that children who have additional educational needs get the best possible supports at school time. This is because it will serve not just the students and their families but society well into the future.