Special Educational Needs
Dail Éireann — 2026-02-12
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Darren O'Rourke (SF), Meath East

Gabhaim buíochas leis an Aire Stáit. He did not give the numbers in response to the question I asked - the number of children who had applied pre- and post-October and the number of those children who have an offer of a school place or, more importantly at this stage, do not have an offer. It is that question of unmet need.
When I raised this with the Taoiseach last week, he said both the Minister and Minister of State had reported to Cabinet that there were huge numbers applying to the NCSE and that it was a significant increase on last year. What are those numbers? Will the system be able to respond to ensure every child has an appropriate school place for September?
There is real concern, and I would be grateful if the Minister of State could outline the process.
I very much welcome the fact that letters of eligibility are beginning to be reissued. I have a long list of people who will be eager to get those letters of eligibility and they are eligible for them. What do they do?

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2026-02-12/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-09-14T01:01:02+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-02-12