Special Educational Needs
Dail Éireann — 2026-06-16
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Neale Richmond (FG), Dublin Rathdown

I am very grateful to the Deputy for raising this issue. I awkwardly have my back to him but we will do our best with the dynamics of the Chamber. I am taking this on behalf of the Minister of State, Deputy Michael Moynihan.
It is the policy of the Department of Education and Youth, in accordance with the principles of inclusive education, that students with additional learning needs are supported in mainstream classes along with their peers, with additional supports provided as necessary. Indeed, I am married to a special education teacher, SET, and this is something I hear about daily. The Department has invested considerably in ensuring that all recognised mainstream schools have been allocated additional special education teaching resources to support children with special educational needs, including students with literacy difficulties. Guidelines for schools on the organisation, deployment and use of their SETs have been published on the Department’s website. There are 15,000 special education teachers allocated to primary and post-primary schools to enable them to support children with special educational needs.
Funding is also made available to schools for the purchase of specialised equipment, such as computers or software, to assist children with special educational needs, including children with a specific learning disability, where relevant professionals recommend the equipment as being essential for the provision of education. Schools apply to the National Council for Special Education through their local special educational needs officer for such support.
It is important to note that the majority of students with literacy difficulties currently receive additional teaching support from a special education teacher in a mainstream class. This is provided on the basis of the individual student’s learning needs, identified in schools, as opposed to being based on a requirement for a child to have a diagnosis or assessment of a particular disability.
There are four schools dedicated to supporting students with specific learning disability, SLD. There are also fourteen SLD classes in eleven mainstream primary schools located across the country, in counties Dublin, Clare, Louth, Galway, Kerry and Wexford. These settings have a student-teacher ratio of 1:9 and are normally attended by students aged between eight and 12 years old for a maximum of two years. Students will have a diagnosis of dyslexia and score at the second percentile or lower on literacy standardised tests. They will also have an average or above average level of intelligence.
In May 2021, the inspectorate was requested by the Department of education's special education section to evaluate provision in special classes for children and young people with an SLD, as referred to by the Deputy. The purpose of the evaluations was to examine the quality of provision for children and young people with an SLD, with particular reference to understanding the placement of children and young people in these classes and to identifying the strengths and areas for improvement in learning and teaching in these classes. The Minister of State, Deputy Moynihan, has discussed this issue with the inspectorate, and will be engaging with it further, as well as with officials in the Department and with several organisations and advocacy groups.
The Deputy has raised the cases of just two families but I have no doubt there is an abundance in all our constituencies, particularly in his constituency of Galway West. The Minister of State stands ready to take a deputation meeting, if required. I encourage the Deputy to pursue that where possible.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2026-06-16/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-27T06:54:50+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-06-16