Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions Dail Éireann — 2026-03-19 ============================================================ Simon Harris (FG), Wicklow I thank Deputy Kenny for bringing up this issue and not for the first time. I know his professional and political interest and priority in relation to this, and he is right. This is a real time of anxiety for many parents across the country and we are acutely aware of that. I am aware of it as are the Minister for Education and Youth, Deputy Naughton, and the Minister of State, Deputy Moynihan. The Deputy's comments have been quite balanced because, objectively, we have seen some progress when it comes to special education. We now see special education funding of more than €3 billion this year, which is about 58% higher than it was in 2020. We see the majority of children with special educational needs supported to attend mainstream classes with their peers. That is as a result of a very significant uplift in special education teachers and SNAs. We have made a decision, which the Deputy and I debated in this House previously, in relation to only proceeding with the review where there was an upward lift in SNAs. That means we were planning for about 1,700 or thereabouts additional SNAs this year. That figure will now be around 2,200, which means we will have over 25,000 SNAs in our schools this September. We have already provided funding for over 400 new special classes and at least 400 new special school places for the 2026-2027 school year. It is intended that would create around 3,000 new special education placements for September 2026. I think there will be a further memo going to Cabinet, probably in April, but the Deputy is right that people do not live by memos. It is the kind of thing we do in this place but in the real world, it is what is about happening in the here and now. Yesterday, we saw 36 additional special classes announced by the Minister and Minister of State. At our weekly leaders' meeting on Monday, there will be a special focus on education with the Minister and Minister of State where we will be updated on a number of these issues in relation to special education, SNAs and classes as well. That is important. What I can say is we are working around the clock to make sure no child will be prevented from starting school and to make sure every support possible is and can be in place. I do need to be honest. I do not like the word "demand". We are seeing a very significant increase in need. These are needs. Parents are not going around demanding things. These are needs their children have. We are seeing a very significant increase in that need. In fairness to the Department, the Minister and the Minister of State and their predecessors, there was a real effort to try to get somewhat ahead of it this year with the opening of the portal in October but through no fault of any parent, even after that, a significant number of additional children came forward. I can understand why that is the case. What we are trying to do now is work our way through that. I do not have the exact numbers to hand right now but it is a somewhat fluid situation. I think the Deputy's idea of a centralised portal is a good idea and I will certainly talk with the Minister about that. I know she will engage with the Deputy as well. We want to have the best data possible but the priority in the here and now is to make sure we prepare as best as we can for September and that we put in place robust plans to make sure no child is prevented from starting school. I am very conscious of the point the Deputy made about how being close to one's community is vital for people. --- 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/2026-03-19/debate/main Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:54:45+00:00 Sitting date: 2026-03-19