Special Educational Needs
Dail Éireann — 2026-02-12
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Michael Moynihan (FF), Cork North-West

I thank the Deputy. Last year 1 February was the deadline. That was extended by a week due to Storm Éowyn. We looked at trying to plan in February, March and April last year and saw the challenges families and people were meeting. A decision was made by the then Minister, Deputy McEntee, and me to bring the dates back to 1 October. One of the first discussions I had with the Minister, Deputy Naughton, upon her appointment was to look at the whole concept so we can bring better planning into the system and greater certainty for students and families. A number of years ago I was at a school gate meeting a family whose child was finishing sixth class on 26 June without knowing where the child was going to start post-primary education in September. Through the various challenges we have had on it, I constantly have that family in my mind, and we need to do far better. The Deputy makes the point that families and parents are stressed about this. We have moved this system back four or five months to bring certainty to them.

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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