2026-01-29

I thank the Ceann Comhairle for selecting this matter, which is very important to the constituents in Kildare South. It is always good to start with some good news. I want to put on record my thanks to the Minister and the Government for the announcement of three additional special classes in Kildare South in St. Evins National School, Monasterevin, St. Conleth's National School, Derrinturn, and Scoil Bhríde in Lackagh. They are most welcome indeed. A number of weeks ago, I raised the concerns of the community of Lackagh regarding the need for a special class. I welcome the fact that its calls have been listened to and that Lackagh will get the special class it deserves in September. Unfortunately, that is where the good news stops for so many parents. My office has been inundated with calls and emails from worried parents who cannot find a special class or a special school place for this coming September. These are not isolated calls. It has now reached the stage where it is one of the biggest issues we deal with in the office on a daily basis. Parents in places like Kildare town, Suncroft, Newbridge, Calverstown, Crookstown and Athy, and at this stage almost in every other town and village in south Kildare, cannot find a school place and they are growing more and more desperate for their children. There is a clear demand for additional classes across Kildare South for autism classes and classes for children with mixed or moderate learning disabilities. I have had a number of parents from one school in Newbridge who cannot find any school places. They even tried the surrounding schools but they are all full. The local feeder school for Newbridge had only one place available for which the parents of 15 or so children applied. Kildare town has one of the biggest number of primary school children in the country yet a number of local families cannot access a special class there. Parents in the Ballitore and Narraghmore area have contacted every local school in their area yet they recently found themselves numbered in the late twenties for one local school that had one place. Kildare South was also promised a new special school, but this was eventually located in Craddockstown, which is in Kildare North. While this is a wonderful school with great staff and great reports, it is already full as so many parents in Kildare South cannot find a special school place. The current situation in Kildare South is at crisis. Parents who are holding down two jobs just to pay the mortgage and their other bills are being told to apply to other counties. One asked me today if there were not children in these other counties who needed a special class or school. The answer is, yes, there are and these schools in other counties are full too. I am dealing with one lady in Newbridge who has already applied to over 50 schools looking for a place for her child. We now see Government operating a drip-feed approach in terms of announcing new classes. This is simply not good enough and is only adding to the stress parents have. They are relying on WhatsApp groups, local papers and local reports on local radio stations to try to find out if there is a new class opening near to where they live. I hope the Minister of State can bring us some good news on behalf of Government and not tell me and all the parents listening about a list of schools that already exist in Kildare South. On behalf of the many parents who have contacted me, I will tell him that they are already full.

I thank the Deputy for making this important case. The Government is committed to the provision of additional special school places for children with special educational needs. Budget 2026 secured funding for 3,000 new specialist places and the NCSE is currently looking at where these places should be best located for the school year 2026-2027. There is a lot of work going on at the moment in that regard. Over 2,700 new places were provided in 2025-2026, meaning there are now 3,741 special classes nationwide. That means there will be 300 more additional places. There will be 3,000 new specialist places next September. There were 2,700 new special places in this school year, so we are building on work we are doing. We need to build on it and put provision in the types of locations the Deputy is talking about, where it is best placed to meet existing and future demand. In County Kildare, there are 148 special classes in operation providing capacity for 888 kids. This includes 17 new special classes in this school year, 2025-2026. In addition, 16 new special schools have been established in recent years. Six of these special schools are in County Kildare educating approximately 359 students with the most complex needs. These are supported by the Department and the National Council for Special Education. The NCSE will have a clear picture of local demand for special class places for the school year starting September after it reviews and assesses all the information it has got through the parents’ notification process, which closed last October. As the Deputy is aware, an earlier deadline was introduced this year to support forward planning and to better equip the NCSE with local information as to what students would be leaving school, transitioning to post-primary, or who is seeking specialist placement and maybe entering the education system for the first time. The information is critical to decide where to put provision. The Department and the NCSE continue to work closely with school patron bodies, management bodies and schools to confirm these new special classes for next September. We have begun sanctioning new special classes this month. Some 236 have been sanctioned to date and many more will be confirmed in the coming weeks. Of these, 11 are in County Kildare. The earlier sanctioning of new classes happening this year provides clarity for parents and allows schools more time for the planning and establishment of new special classes. The vast majority of new special classes being announced are being provided in available school accommodation which is being reconfigured as a special class. Each special class is allocated one teacher and two SNAs, and at post-primary level schools should receive 1.5 teachers posts and two SNAs. Details of those special classes are on the NCSE website. Once special classes are sanctioned by the NCSE, it is envisaged that schools will open admission for them. The NCSE will continue to support all children made known to them after the dates but obviously it works better if the information can be provided. There is still a huge amount of work ongoing and that is just the way it is. It is still earlier than it has been before.

I thank the Minister of State for his detailed reply on behalf of Minister of State with responsibility for special education. I put on the record that of the 11 classes he has announced for Kildare, eight of those are in Kildare North. I am asking for Kildare South, the area I represent. There is a huge and growing population in Kildare. On Monday we were told we have to add another 50,000 to that population. That is okay too but we do not have the special classes. Every time I ask a question in here, the reply I get is that there are X number of classes in Kildare. As I have said, all those classes are full. I also want to talk about the process the Minister of State outlined, where parents apply. As we know, there was a new closing date and that was welcomed by so many parents because a lot of parents applied thinking that would improve their chances. Instead of getting a place they have now gotten a letter saying they are on a list. They have reached out to their local SENO but the SENO has only been able to produce a list of possible schools for the parents to ring themselves or tell them to look in another county. We are all told there is a pilot scheme for a central portal but this is between two and three years old at this stage and has not been rolled out to any other country. I am dealing with the principals of some primary schools in Kildare South, such as Suncroft National School, which are willing to open another class and have the room to do so. Surely the Department would snap up an offer like this for the children of Kildare South. I have stated in similar debates that I am aware of children in cars and buses passing each other each morning on crowded motorways, with one going from Kildare to Dublin and the others going from Dublin to Kildare. We have to ask why this madness is happening and where the plan is to solve it. All we want in Kildare South for the people and parents who are stressed is to have the classes and one special school located in Kildare South because there are so many parents crying out for that. That is all they ask of Government. We welcome the three we have got but we only have three of the 11 in Kildare South. The demand is increasing day in, day out and we need to hear some more good news from Government.

I assure people that this process is still under way. Quite frankly, the Department of education does not look at it in terms of Kildare South or Kildare North. It looks at the children who are there. Through the process that will balance out. There will be more in Kildare North, I assume because it is a bigger population. I also assume it will balance out as the process goes on. The idea that this is some sort of political decision is wrong. It is based on the needs of-----

I never said that.

I do not know. The Deputy keeps talking about constituencies and why one constituency is getting more than another. The Department-----

I never said that either.

The Department has information about children and is going through that information. It has not come to any final decision and there will be quite a few more announcements to be made. It is about the children and their constitutional right to be educated, which we are proud to have in this country. It needs to be implemented and the Department and the Minister of State, Deputy Moynihan, work every day of the week to execute and implement that right. The Department continues to engage with the NCSE. The vast majority of students with special educational needs get supported to attend school in mainstream classes with their peers. We have 15,000 special education teachers in Ireland and 12,500 special needs assistants. It is a huge number of people. For children with more complex needs, special classes or special school places are provided. This is in keeping with our policy on inclusive education, which promotes that children will be supported to receive an education in the most inclusive setting. The NCSE advises that a small number of places remain available in some other counties. That is simply a fact and the NCSE remains available to provide advice and support to all families seeking a placement and will continue to examine where provision is required for the 2026-2027 year so that this can be done right and the right decisions can be made as to where children are, and where those classes are needed. I have no doubt that every single offer from a school to provide a class is taken with the utmost seriousness in the Department. The Department will have to make sure the children are there in those areas. That process is still under way and is by no means concluded.

Before I move to the next Deputy I welcome the visitors from Dundalk Grammar School, who are here at the behest of Deputy Butterly.