Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions
Dail Éireann — 2026-04-22
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Micheál Martin (FF), Cork South-Central

I thank the Deputy for raising what is an extremely important issue. There is a child poverty unit within my Department which actually had a significant impact on the last budget but everybody attacked it because it just targeted those most in need. I hope the Deputy will agree with me that what was done with the child support payment was going in the right direction to deal with poverty among children. It is. Others want universality everywhere but we do need to target and make choices if we do want to reduce consistent poverty among children, and I am determined to do it. With the Minister of State, Deputy Dara Calleary, in the last budget, we took significant steps in that direction.
On the RTÉ documentary on special care, the care of young children and children coming into care, the experiences described are extremely disturbing. The Government takes that with the utmost seriousness. There has been considerable investment, structural reform and a very determined effort to eliminate inappropriate placements but demand for services is increasing at a very rapid rate. Demand for Tusla services has more than doubled since the agency’s establishment in 2014. In 2025 alone, 106,000 referrals to Tusla were received. That is a 10% increase on previous years. Clearly, there are complex societal pressures, including domestic violence, homelessness and addiction.
About 5,900 children are in foster or residential care. Close to 3,000 young people are in aftercare. We will continue to invest, to increase investment and to try to enhance services. Recruitment is not necessarily a funding issue alone; it is also about getting people of the right quality. We have more work to do in this area in terms of full therapeutic supports for children in care.
In terms of special education, the bottom line is that we brought forward a portal with an early date for applications for special classes and so forth. This has resulted in a significant increase compared with last year. That dramatic increase has seen us end up with 6,000 pupils. We will be providing for children for next September. We are now looking at over 26,000 special needs assistants. The Deputy said they will not be getting support but they will be. The new inclusive special-class approach will ensure one teacher and two SNAs for every six pupils. That will result in a very significant enhancement over and above what had already been provided for in terms of SNAs. The numbers are growing very significantly, as is the overall budget for special education. The Cabinet has approved €650 million extra in current funding for education, with a significant amount of it directed towards accommodating special education. I can go through all the various classes and special schools that have been established. We will meet what is required.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2026-04-22/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:54:51+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-04-22