Special Educational Needs
Dail Éireann — 2026-01-29
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Mark Wall (LAB), Kildare South

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.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2026-01-29/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:54:34+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-01-29