Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions
Dail Éireann — 2026-09-23
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Jack Chambers (FF), Dublin West

I thank the Deputy. As a constituency TD like him, I regularly deal with many children who have in some instances not gotten a place. To be fair to the work of the Minister, Deputy Naughton, and the Minister of State, Deputy Moynihan, that has improved significantly at the start of September this year compared with previous years. I do not have the specific case details of the child in Belmayne the Deputy mentioned and I regret they do not have a place. We will take that up with the Department of education and the NCSC afterwards. Every child should have their educational rights vindicated in this State, including children who have special educational needs. What we have sought to do over the past number of years is to respond to the level of demand we have seen increase for special education across our State. We have 34,000 children who will be enrolled in special classes and special schools in this school year, which is an 86 % increase since 2020. In fairness to the NCSC and the Department of education, they have responded to that level of demand. Most children are being accommodated in special classes, and we have ramped up provision of special schools as well.
On the parent and child the Deputy is speaking about, that step change in investment, staffing and provision has not delivered for them. I will ask the different arms of the Department of education and others to respond to that. We have prioritised our wider budgetary provision on special education, which we have also engaged on at the Oireachtas committee. There is a €3 billion investment in special education for 2026, the highest annual provision in the history of the State and a 58% increase since 2020. You can see the front-line delivery of that. Special classes have increased by more than 136% since 2020 with more than 4,000 classes supporting more than 34,000 students.
I turn to the Deputy's question on staffing and supports. SNA numbers have increased by 45% with 26,000 SNAs expected to be working in schools by the year end. There will be 22,500 special education teachers in place by the year end. We have sought to prioritise this area because as constituency TDs we all recognise that no child should be at home when they should be in a school place, in a special class or a special school. The position and work of the Minister of State, Deputy Moynihan, and the Minister, Deputy Naughton, have improved that with the portal established to give much better forward planning 12 months ahead of schedule, so there is better ability for the NCSC to plan and respond to that demand. I will ask the respective State agencies to respond to the Deputy's specific case.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2026-09-23/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-09-28T05:50:49+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-09-23