Special Educational Needs
Dail Éireann — 2026-09-24
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Michael Moynihan (FF), Cork North-West

I thank Deputy Wall for the question. The Government is very committed to the provision of specialised education. In the budget of 2026, this time last year, we committed to over 400 new special classes and over 400 new special school places. In April, we agreed additional funding to have more funding in place for more special classes and special school places as well.
The year 2026 represents the largest ever expansion of specialist educational provision in the history of the State. Through the combined efforts of the Department and the National Council for Special Education, NCSE, 587 new special classes have been sanctioned for the 2026-2027 school year, including 70 inclusive special classes. This represents an increase of over 40% in the number of special classes being provided in 2026 compared to 2025. Between 1 September 2025 and 1 September 2026, nine new special schools opened and there are almost 1,000 extra special classes. In total, there will be over 4,300 special classes operating in mainstream schools next year, an increase of 130% since 2020.
In Kildare, 180 special classes are now in operation providing capacity for 1,080 students. This includes 33 new special classes for the 2026-2027 school year. In April of this year, the Minister, Deputy Naughton, and I announced the establishment of four new special schools for this year, including Monasterevin, to which the Deputy alluded. This brings to 20 the number of new special schools established in recent years.
Dedicated working groups in the Department, the NCSE and the relevant patron bodies continue to meet and to support the establishment of the new special schools. On that point, I thank the ETBs and the patron bodies that have opened those special schools and continue to work very closely with us on the new special schools. We are desperately committed. When a new special school opens, there is a huge new skillset needed and we are desperately committed to ensuring that back-up service is there through the ETBs, our Department and the patron bodies.
Offers of places have been recently made while new principals, teachers and SNAs have been recruited. It is intended that these new schools will open in term 1 of this school year. The NCSE continues to advise parents at a local level on developments, and to support children with contingency arrangements.
The Deputy raised the issue in terms of a specific child and, while I am reluctant to speak about a specific child on the floor of the Dáil, I do take it very seriously. I know that offers were in place and that the Department and the NCSE are working very closely with a small number of children. I have reached out to some of those parents over the past day or two to get a sense of where they are at and to understand their need.
On the 18 places in the three classes in Monasterevin, we are building up the skillset for special school places to open and to build up over the next number of years. That is very much in-built in our policy. It offers us the opportunity to get the skillset but I take the point the Deputy raised in relation to one or more of his constituents and their children. I understand the challenges there and the very serious stress it is causing them. We are working day in, day out to make sure we are meeting that need. The Department and the NCSE will continue to do that in the time ahead.

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Retrieved: 2026-09-28T05:50:50+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-09-24