Special Educational Needs
Dail Éireann — 2026-01-22
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Michael Moynihan (FF), Cork North-West

I note the issue the Deputy has with the family who are looking for a letter of eligibility. If she shares with me details of that specific case, we will take it up and respond to the Deputy, rather than giving a carte blanche reply. It is important that we are very clear in our public statements that we are working extremely hard to make sure children who were notified before 1 October last have provision. We are also aware of the challenges that have arisen since 1 October. We have to make sure we do the right thing for all children.
The concern I have is that we brought the date back to 1 October last year to have better planning. We will have to bring that date back further. We will make announcements about that earlier. We need to get it into the system. The challenge the Department has is that we are not getting the information early enough. We have children on the access and inclusion model, AIM, programme or on domiciliary care, which are in different Departments. We need all of that information because if we are to do the right thing and ensure we do not have endless debates on special education in the Dáil, the Seanad or committees, we need to know the challenges being faced and plan accordingly.
We will move to an earlier date to ensure better planning. We have to deal with all aspects of education. The date is hugely important for proper planning. We are looking at all cases notified after 1 October and we are working extremely hard.
If the Deputy shares details of individual cases she has, I will look at them and do the best I can. I thank her for raising the issue because it allows me the time to do that. I thank all Deputies for constantly raising these issues because it is hugely important to have them raised on the floor of the Dáil.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2026-01-22/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:54:32+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-01-22