Ceisteanna ar Pholasaí nó ar Reachtaíocht - Questions on Policy or Legislation
Dail Éireann — 2026-02-26
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Simon Harris (FG), Wicklow

I thank Deputy Kenny very much, and for his ongoing work in this important area. I can assure him that the Government is working on this constantly through both the Minister, Deputy Naughton, and the Minister of State, Deputy Michael Moynihan. As a Government leader, I am being kept up to date regularly on this, as are others. There are a number of issues here. There is the opening of additional special classes. There is the fact that the portal opened earlier this year to try to have advance and earlier knowledge of the number of places needed. There is also the fact that through no fault of their own, other parents needed to apply after that date. There is also the fact that there may be some students in mainstream classes who may now require special classes as well. There is quite a piece of work going on here to try to clarify all of these matters. We have provided significant funding for more than 400 new special classes, and at least 400 new special school places. This will see almost 3,000 new special education placements created for next September. I assure the Deputy that active work is going on to ensure that places are provided in advance of September. The Government at every level is working closely with the Minister for education and the Minister of State with responsibility for special education on this issue.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2026-02-26/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:54:42+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-02-26