Education (Amendment) Bill 2024: Second Stage [Private Members] Dail Éireann — 2025-10-16 ============================================================ Michael Moynihan (FF), Cork North-West I listened to both Deputies. I acknowledge the complete sincerity of the work Deputy Ó Murchú is doing. Others must judge my character but I would like to think that I am open. I do not have a monopoly on wisdom but I have a monopoly on experience and want to make sure that we are doing the best we can. I will outline a number of things we are doing. I outlined the Government's concern about the proposed legislation. I also outlined some work that has been done. In the closing statement, I want to provide a short update for the House on the ongoing work by both the Department of education and the NCSE in relation to forward planning for special education provision for the 2026-27 school year and beyond. The legislation does not take into account progress being made on forward planning for special education. In 2024, the Department of education and the national council introduced a range of new measures to support forward planning for special classes and special school planning. The key element of this was the introduction of a requirement for parents of children and young people seeking a special class or school place to notify the NCSE. This measure ensured that the NCSE had a clearer picture of the local demand for special classes and special school places. Parents of children and young students seeking a special class or a special school place for the 2025-26 school year were asked to notify the NCSE by 1 February. For the 2026-27 school year, this timeline for parents to notify the NCSE was brought forward several months to 1 October 2025. Parents responded in significant numbers and the NCSE is now working to collate the overall number of children and young people seeking special classes or special school places for September 2026. The new parent notification process allows the NCSE and Department to work with schools to confirm the new special classes and special school provision earlier. The aim is to have a majority of these new special classes confirmed by the end of the calendar year 2025. The NCSE has confirmed that over 800 vacancies remain in special classes in primary school and post-primary school across the country at the start of the 2025-26 school year. Budget 2026 provides funding for teachers and SNAs to support the provision of another 3,000 classes and special school places next year. This continues the acceleration of delivery of special education places to ensure sufficient capacity is provided each year and that children and young people have an appropriate place. Both I and the Minister, Deputy Helen McEntee, will continue to monitor the progress being made on confirming new special classes and special school provision earlier through our weekly meetings with the NCSE and senior officials in the Department. I will be happy to update the House on this work over the coming weeks and months. I recognise the progress that is being made on confirming new special education provision earlier and piloting the new common application system. Coupled with the concerns relating to the proposed legislation, as I articulated earlier, I ask the House to support the Government's position on this legislation. In the minute or so that remains, I assure the Deputies and this House that I take the role I have in special education extremely seriously. I know the challenges that are being faced by students and their families. I know they are contacting TDs and looking for help and direction. Both the National Council for Special Education and the Department of education, in our weekly meetings, are acutely aware of the needs that exist and we are working hard. We found the 1 February deadline very time-constrained, which had to be pushed back because of Storm Éowyn earlier in the year, to make decisions about where classes are going and to have buildings in place. I accept the point completely. I know that the Deputy is thinking about the students. I see great work going on around the country. The practitioners at school level, school leadership level, schoolteachers and SNAs do amazing work to help us to build a better special education system and have better outcomes for those children into adulthood. I will continue to update the House. There were more debates than ever about special education in the last term and again this time. That is right and proper because children and families need to have certainty on it. I will continue to work across government to make that a reality. --- Source: Houses of the Oireachtas. Licensed under CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). The Official Report is revised after first publication; the fetch timestamp below identifies the version quoted. Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2025-10-16/debate/main Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:54:14+00:00 Sitting date: 2025-10-16