Special Educational Needs
Dail Éireann — 2026-06-17
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Michael Moynihan (FF), Cork North-West

I thank Deputy Ó Murchú for raising this question regarding County Louth. I will first give him an overview of where we are and then address the specifics, if that is okay.
We are extremely committed to the provision of additional places for children with exceptional educational needs. The number of special classes provided across the country has doubled over the last few years. In addition, 16 new special schools have been established in recent years. School capacity has also been expanded across a number of schools nationwide. Four of these special schools are in County Louth, educating approximately 450 students with complex educational needs. These schools are supported by the Department of education and the National Council for Special Education, NCSE.
As the Deputy will be aware, an earlier notification deadline was introduced last year to support forward planning. This also meant that the NCSE was equipped earlier with local information as to what students would be leaving school, transitioning to post-primary specialised places or seeking specialised places and entering the education system for the first time. This information is crucial when examining where places must be provided to meet demand.
The NCSE started sanctioning special classes for the 2026-27 school year in January, several months earlier than the previous year. To date, 565 new special classes have been sanctioned by the NCSE for the 2026-27 school year. By way of information, between September 2025 and September 2026, close to 1,000 extra special classes will have been sanctioned and opened across the country. The vast majority of these new special classes are for children with autism. The new special class sanctions mean there will be over 4,300 special classes operating in mainstream schools across the country in the next school year, up from 1,836 in 2020. The earlier notification has given us insight into the need. The Department has worked extremely well with the NCSE and with school communities across the country to open extra classes at both primary and post-primary levels.
On the issues the Deputy has raised regarding education, we have those who are entering primary school for the first time and those who are transitioning from primary to post-primary school. These are the pinch points or challenges we face. We are acutely aware of the breakdown of places. We are working extremely well with the new teams within the NCSE across all counties to make sure we are meeting the needs of children with additional educational requirements.
The Deputy mentioned a number of children. While it would not be appropriate for me to discuss these cases on the floor of the Dáil, the Deputy shared the details with me yesterday evening and I will certainly take these matters up and respond to him offline. I fully understand. One of my motivations in my role is that, a few short years ago, I met a parent at a school gate whose child was finishing primary school in June of that particular school year. This parent did not know where that child would go to post-primary school that September. That has really guided me in making sure we have appropriate places. On being appointed, I looked at moving the date to earlier in the year so that we would have earlier sight of educational requirements. We are working to ensure that again next year. It is proper to engage in forward planning to make sure we have sight of the need.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2026-06-17/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-09-21T01:01:09+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-06-17