Written Answers Nos. 571-590
571. Deputy Pádraig Rice asked the Minister for Education and Youth if she will meet with a group to discuss their seizure safe schools campaign (details supplied); and if she will make a statement on the matter. [4299/26]
View answerThis government is fully committed to supporting students with special educational needs to fulfil their full potential and the Programme for Government makes a number of commitments to deliver on this objective.
The National Council for Special Education (NCSE) is the statutory body responsible for the provision of special education and allocating supports for students with special educational needs.
Under the provisions of the Education Act 1998, the Board of Management is the body charged with the direct governance of a school. The Board of Management of each school is responsible for the care and safety of all of the students in their school and care and safety should be at the centre of all policy and practices. Schools are required to take all reasonable precautions to provide training for staff to ensure the safety and welfare of their pupils.
It is important that a sufficient number of school staff receive adequate training to meet the care needs of students, and adequate cover is in place where staff designated to provide essential care support is absent on any particular day. Resources should also be deployed so that students with the greatest level of need receive the greatest level of support in the school.
Where specific training is required, the school can liaise with Enable Ireland, the Health Service Executive (HSE) and Education Support Centres, at a local level to secure guidance and training to meet the care needs of the student. The school’s special education needs organiser (SENO) is also available to advise on the resources available to assist students with special educational needs including opportunities for targeted training.
Matters in relation to the provision of health-related supports for children should be generally directed to the HSE or to the Department of Children, Disability and Equality.
My department and the NCSE are committed to delivering an education system that is of the highest quality and where every child and young person feels valued and is actively supported and nurtured to reach their full potential.
572. Deputy Claire Kerrane asked the Minister for Education and Youth when her Department expects to make a decision regarding a school (details supplied); and if she will make a statement on the matter. [4352/26]
View answerThe project referred to by the Deputy has been devolved for delivery to the Laois Offaly Education Training Board (LOETB).
The project is currently at Stage 2A of the architectural design process. In Quarter 2 2025, a Stage 2A report was submitted to the Department for review and is undergoing an intensive review from both a technical and cost perspective in accordance with the requirements of the Public Spending Code.
LOETB have proposed an option to acquire an alternative site for this project. This proposal has been reviewed by the Department and following further engagement, LOETB are now finalising cost comparisons on the two sites.
Since 2020, my department has invested over €6 billion in our schools throughout the country under the National Development Plan, involving the completion of over 1,400 school building projects. In addition, repurposing and optimisation of existing accommodation capacity across the school estate has been a key enabler of timely, local provision of special class capacity in a way that supports best practice in inclusion and integration. Circa 80% of new special classes in 2025/26 are being facilitated in repurposed classroom accommodation.
Government support for this investment, including by way of supplementary capital funding, has delivered real benefits for school communities. Supplementary capital funding of €210 million approved by Government has brought the total capital allocation for 2025 for my department to €1.6 billion.
In July the Government announced a capital allocation of €7.55 billion for the Department of Education and Youth for the period 2026-2030 under the National Development Plan. As part of this NDP allocation my department will place a strong emphasis on provision for children with special educational needs, with a particular focus on meeting annual school place needs. In relation to project rollout for Large-Scale projects and Additional School Accommodation scheme projects, the approach will be to continue to maximise the capacity of the existing school estate as much as possible in the first instance and provide necessary additional capacity through targeted and prioritised project rollout over the course of 2026 to 2030 period to meet the most urgent and prioritised needs.
The NDP Implementation Plan for the Education and Youth sector and the first tranche of projects to progress to construction will be published by my department shortly. This NDP Implementation Plan will optimise outputs from the NDP allocations, with a strong focus on maximising existing school capacity, progressing priority projects where local capacity across schools in the area is insufficient, and ensuring delivery that is affordable, offers value for money, and meets functional needs.
573. Deputy Claire Kerrane asked the Minister for Education and Youth when her Department plans to publish their sectoral NDP Implementation Plan; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [4353/26]
View answerGovernment departments are currently in the process of publishing their sectoral NDP Implementation Plans. The sectoral plan for the Education and Youth sector, and first tranche of projects to proceed to construction, will be published shortly.
In July 2025, the Government announced a capital allocation of €7.55 billion for the Department of Education and Youth for the period 2026–2030 under the National Development Plan. Building on this allocation, my department will place a strong emphasis on provision for children with special educational needs, with a particular focus on meeting annual school place requirements.
In delivering Large-Scale projects and Additional School Accommodation scheme projects, the approach will be to maximise the capacity of the existing school estate as much as possible in the first instance, and to provide additional capacity through a targeted and prioritised rollout of projects over the 2026–2030 period to meet the most urgent needs.
My department’s NDP Implementation Plan will optimise outputs from the NDP allocations, with a strong focus on maximising existing school capacity, progressing priority projects where local capacity across schools in an area is insufficient, and ensuring delivery that is affordable, offers value for money, and meets functional requirements.
Since 2020, my department has invested over €6 billion in our schools throughout the country under the National Development Plan, involving the completion of over 1,400 school building projects along with over 3,700 small-scale improvement works to meet priority maintenance needs and advance energy efficiency and climate goal. In addition, repurposing, and optimisation of existing accommodation capacity across the school estate has been a key enabler of timely, local provision of special class capacity in a way that supports best practice in inclusion and integration. Circa 80% of new special classes in 2025/26 are being facilitated in repurposed classroom accommodation. This significant investment has delivered real benefits for school communities.
575. Deputy Marie Sherlock asked the Minister for Education and Youth the number of EWOs per education geographical area for each of the following years 2005,2010, 2015,2020, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024 and 2025. [4363/26]
View answerSince January 2021 Tusla Education Support Service (TESS) is under the remit of my department. TESS has three strands namely the statutory Educational Welfare Service (EWS) and the two school support services, the Home School Community Liaison Scheme and the School Completion Programme.
The EWS operates under the Education (Welfare) Act, 2000, a piece of legislation that emphasises the promotion of school attendance, participation and retention. This is a statutory service and its primary role is to ensure that every child either attends school regularly or otherwise receives a certain minimum education; to ensure and secure every child’s entitlement to education. Educational Welfare Officers (EWOs) work with families and children in a child-centered way to overcome barriers to their school attendance, participation and retention. They also work closely with schools, educational support services and other agencies to support school attendance and resolve attendance problems for the benefit of children and families.
Historic numbers for Senior EWOs and EWOs per education geographical area (by county) are not available due to changes to the EWS structure over the years. As school catchment areas and clusters frequently cross county boundaries, an EWO’s caseload is determined by the needs of children, families and schools.
Senior EWO and EWO Whole Time Equivalents (WTEs) for the years sought by the Deputy are provided in the table below.
|
Year |
WTE number of senior EWOs and EWOs |
|
2005 |
73 |
|
2010 |
85 |
|
Q4 2015 |
68.01 EWO only |
|
Q4 2020 |
109.91 |
|
Q4 2021 |
112.34 |
|
Q4 2022 |
123.69 |
|
Q 4 2023 |
149.26 |
|
Q4 2024 |
152.55 |
|
Q3 2025 |
185.09 |
Most of the data, requested by the Deputy and provided in the table above, is published by Tusla as part of its performance and activity reporting. See: www.tusla.ie/data-figures/2025-performance-data/.
576. Deputy John McGuinness asked the Minister for Education and Youth if funding will be approved for an ASD class for a school (details supplied); and the reasons this school has not been approved to date. [4374/26]
View answerThis government is fully committed to supporting students with special educational needs to fulfil their full potential and the Programme for Government makes a number of commitments to deliver on this objective.
The National Council for Special Education (NCSE) is the statutory body responsible for the provision of special education and allocating supports for students with special educational needs.
The NCSE have formally sanctioned 168 (105 primary and 63 post-primary) new special classes in 159 schools across the country for the next school year 2026/2027. This is the first tranche of new special classes being sanctioned and is a number of months ahead of last year. The NCSE expect to continue to sanction further new special classes over the coming weeks. The earlier sanctioning of these classes will provide clarity for parents and allow schools more time for the planning and establishment of new special classes. Details of the new special classes are available on the NCSE website.
The NCSE expect to sanction further new special classes in the coming weeks. Schools seeking to establish new special classes should continue to engage with the NCSE at local level. In sanctioning new special classes, the NCSE have due regard to the level of need in an area and the existing provision, including how many places are expected to be available through the normal movement of students from primary to post-primary or finishing school. Budget 2026 provides funding for over 400 new special classes.
The vast majority of these new special classes are being provided through the reconfiguration of existing school accommodation. This is particularly the case at primary level where enrolment numbers are dropping nationally.
Where an additional special class or classes are to be established at a school and the school does not have accommodation for that class(es) it is open to the school to apply for capital funding under my department’s Additional School Accommodation (ASA) scheme.
My department and the NCSE are committed to delivering an education system that is of the highest quality and where every child and young person feels valued and is actively supported and nurtured to reach their full potential.
577. Deputy Eoghan Kenny asked the Minister for Education and Youth the number of places available in each sanctioned class (details supplied); the number of places held for in-school allocations; the number held in each sanctioned class for new school entendres, with its list form as requested; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [4376/26]
View answerThis government is fully committed to supporting students with special educational needs to fulfil their full potential and the Programme for Government makes a number of commitments to deliver on this objective.
The National Council for Special Education (NCSE) is the statutory body responsible for the provision of special education and allocating supports for students with special educational needs.
The NCSE have formally sanctioned 168 (105 primary and 63 post-primary) new special classes in 159 schools across the country for the next school year 2026/2027. This is the first tranche of new special classes being sanctioned and is a number of months ahead of last year. The NCSE expect to continue to sanction further new special classes over the coming weeks. The earlier sanctioning of these classes will provide clarity for parents and allow schools more time for the planning and establishment of new special classes. Details of the new special classes are available on the NCSE website.
The typical student capacity and staffing resource for each special class is determined by the designation of the special class - this is set out in Appendix 2 of the NCSE Guidelines for Setting Up and Organising Special Classes (www.ncse.ie/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/NCSE-Guidelines-for-Setting-Up-and-Organising-Special-Classes-2024-ENG.pdf).
It is the responsibility of the managerial authorities of all schools to implement an admissions policy in accordance with the Education Act, 1998 and the Education (Admission to Schools) Act 2018. The published admission policy sets out the selection criteria for admission to school. The annual admission notice sets out the number of places that are available and the timeline for accepting and processing applications for admission.
This information should be published on the school’s website and be available on request by contacting the school directly.
Under the provisions of this act, all schools are required to have admissions policies which have been approved by the patron following consultation with staff and parents of students who are attending the school. It is a key requirement of the act that all school admission policies are fair and transparent.
Parents may apply to enrol their child in a school of their choosing and where the school has places available for the relevant year, the student should be admitted. However, in schools where there are more applicants than places available, a selection process will be necessary. This selection process and the enrolment policy on which it is based must be non-discriminatory and must be applied fairly in respect of all applicants. Nonetheless, it may result in some students not obtaining a place in the school of their first choice.
My department and the NCSE are committed to delivering an education system that is of the highest quality and where every child and young person feels valued and is actively supported and nurtured to reach their full potential.
578. Deputy Michael Murphy asked the Minister for Education and Youth the criteria currently being applied by SENOs in the context of ongoing SNA allocation reviews; whether her Department accepts that children without primary care needs may nonetheless require SNA support to access education safely and meaningfully in mainstream classrooms; the guidance issued to SENOs to ensure that SNA reviews are needs-based rather than resource-led; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [4385/26]
View answerThis government is fully committed to supporting students with special educational needs to fulfil their full potential and the Programme for Government makes a number of commitments to deliver on this objective.
Special needs assistants (SNAs) play a central role in the successful inclusion of students with additional and significant care needs in schools. They help ensure that these students can access an education to enable them to achieve their best outcomes and reach their full potential.
If a school feels like it has insufficient SNA support to meet the needs of its students an application can be submitted to the National Council for Special Education (NCSE) requesting a review of its allocation. Detailed information on the NCSE's SNA review process is published on the NCSE's website (www.ncse.ie/sna-review-mainstream). Each case is individually assessed and is based on the student profile of each school.
The NCSE is the statutory body responsible for the provision of special education and allocating supports for students with special educational needs including SNAs.
My department does not have a role in the SNA allocation or SNA review process for individual schools.
It is the responsibility of the NCSE to ensure that these resources are allocated to the children with the greatest level of need across all schools.
The NCSE in carrying out this role takes a child centred focus and approach to ensure that all children in our schools with special education care needs are provided with a supportive environment and the resources needed to help them develop and be prepared for life after school.
As the matters raised in the question relate to NCSE operations and processes I am forwarding this question to the NCSE for their direct reply.
My department and the NCSE are committed to delivering an education system that is of the highest quality and where every child and young person feels valued and is actively supported and nurtured to reach their full potential.
579. Deputy Darren O'Rourke asked the Minister for Education and Youth to provide an update on the rollout of the DEIS Plus plan; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [4406/26]
View answer580. Deputy Darren O'Rourke asked the Minister for Education and Youth if she will provide a list of school’s that will be designated as DEIS Plus under the new DEIS Plus Plan; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [4407/26]
View answer581. Deputy Darren O'Rourke asked the Minister for Education and Youth if she will outline the criteria to access the DEIS Plus plan; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [4408/26]
View answer582. Deputy Darren O'Rourke asked the Minister for Education and Youth the number of DEIS schools nationwide that are expected to be included in the DEIS Plus scheme; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [4409/26]
View answerI propose to take Questions Nos. 579, 580, 581 and 582 together.
Tackling educational disadvantage and helping students reach their full potential is a key priority for me as Minister for Education and Youth, and for the Government.
Currently, the DEIS programme supports almost 1,200 primary and post-primary schools, reaching approximately 260,000 students, with an annual investment of over €180 million. Budget 2026 allocates an additional €16.5 million in 2026, rising to €48 million in 2027, to support the implementation of the new DEIS Strategy and introduce the DEIS Plus scheme, which will commence in 2026.
A new DEIS Strategy, which will include the DEIS Plus scheme, will be published in Q1 2026. The DEIS Plus scheme will provide additional support to schools with the highest levels of need, in line with the Government’s commitment. It will target a cohort of schools with high concentrations of children and young people experiencing intergenerational disadvantage where there is a significant gap in outcomes and there are barriers to those children and young people achieving their potential.
Schools will not be required to apply for inclusion in the DEIS Plus scheme. The process to identify schools for inclusion will be evidence-informed, using available data.
The details of the DEIS Plus scheme are currently being finalised within an overall programme of work to tackle educational disadvantage and will be outlined in the new DEIS Strategy.
Future allocation of overall resources will be considered within the context of the new DEIS Strategy and the availability of resources.
583. Deputy Aidan Farrelly asked the Minister for Education and Youth if personal data held by her Department and its customer facing sections is subject to processing by artificial intelligence tools (details supplied). [4462/26]
View answerAt present, my Department has not integrated generative AI tools, such as Microsoft Copilot, with any line-of-business or bespoke applications. A limited trial is underway of a generative AI tool; however, this does not interface directly with citizen data.
584. Deputy Aidan Farrelly asked the Minister for Education and Youth if she and or her officials have conducted a data protection impact assessment with regard to the use of artificial intelligence tools; and, if so, the dates on which this assessment was conducted. [4463/26]
View answerAt this time, my Department has no artificial intelligence tools that integrate with systems that process citizen data, no Data Protection Impact Assessments (DPIAs) have been completed, as no citizen data is processed.
585. Deputy Naoise Ó Muirí asked the Minister for Education and Youth if her Department plans to establish a dedicated scheme to fund the renewal and improvement of school outdoor sports facilities, recognising the difficulty for existing schools to develop these facilities; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [4472/26]
View answerInvestment and expenditure on sports facilities in both primary and post-primary schools is an element of the overall expenditure and investment in the School Building Programme. Practically all schools have outdoor play areas and many schools use adjacent local community facilities. The provision of outdoor play areas form part of the accommodation brief for all new school buildings or where a major building or refurbishment project is being delivered for an existing school. Co-operation between schools and local sporting organisations in sharing their sporting facilities provides opportunities to apply for sports grants including the Sports Capital Grant administered by the Department of Culture, Communications and Sport. The provision of capital funding for outdoor recreation facilities is just one way in which we support increased physical activity. The redeveloped primary curriculum specification for physical education extends the time available for PE with a particular emphasis on community partnerships and the use of the outdoor environment generally.
Since 2020, my department has invested over €6 billion in our schools throughout the country under the National Development Plan, involving the completion of over 1,300 school building projects. 111 of these were large scale school projects all of which would have included extensive accommodation including outdoor play areas. In July, the Government announced a capital allocation of €7.55 billion for the Department of Education and Youth for the period 2026-2030 under the National Development Plan. All Government departments are expected to publish their sectoral NDP Implementation Plans shortly.
My department’s plan will optimise outputs from the NDP allocations, with a strong focus on maximising existing school capacity, progressing priority projects where local capacity across schools in the area is insufficient, and ensuring delivery that is affordable, offers value for money, and meets functional needs. Funding will also be invested to support curricular delivery and well-being across schools by prioritising the development of Physical Education halls and sporting facilities (including yards and play areas) for schools in conjunction with the Sports Capital Fund to deliver for both schools and communities.
My Department's Climate Action Summer Works Scheme provides a mechanism for school authorities to make small-scale improvements to school buildings and also the schools external areas such as outdoor play areas. Schools can also use their minor works grant to upgrade outdoor play areas while repairs to existing areas may be considered under the department’s Emergency Works Scheme.
586. Deputy Eamon Scanlon asked the Minister for Education and Youth to provide an update regarding the allocation of two special ASD classes in a school (details supplied) which were sanctioned in October 2023 by the NCSE; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [4480/26]
View answerI can confirm that my department has an application on hand for capital funding from the school in question for 1 Special Education Class.
Since 2020, my department has invested over €6 billion in our schools throughout the country under the National Development Plan, involving the completion of almost 1,400 school building projects. In addition, repurposing and optimisation of existing accommodation capacity across the school estate has been a key enabler of timely, local provision of special class capacity in a way that supports best practice in inclusion and integration. Circa 80% of new special classes in 2025/26 are being facilitated in repurposed classroom accommodation.
Government support for this investment, including by way of supplementary capital funding, has delivered real benefits for school communities. Supplementary capital funding of €210 million approved by Government has brought the total capital allocation for 2025 for my department to €1.6 billion.
In July the Government announced a capital allocation of €7.55 billion for the Department of Education and Youth for the period 2026-2030 under the National Development Plan. As part of this NDP allocation my department will place a strong emphasis on provision for children with special educational needs, with a particular focus on meeting annual school place needs. In relation to project rollout for Large-Scale projects and Additional School Accommodation scheme projects, the approach will be to continue to maximise the capacity of the existing school estate as much as possible in the first instance and provide necessary additional capacity through targeted and prioritised project rollout over the course of 2026 to 2030 period to meet the most urgent and prioritised needs.
The school in question is being considered in this context and when further updates are available my officials will contact the school authorities directly. I can assure the Deputy that my department is very cognisant of the requirement around the delivery of accommodation for the school in question and is working to advance matters as quickly as possible.
587. Deputy Eoin Ó Broin asked the Minister for Education and Youth to outline the eligibility criteria for the awarding of incremental credit to teachers with experience in private schools at primary level. [4481/26]
View answerThe criteria for the award of incremental credit are set out in the department’s circulars; Circular 10/2001 for Primary teachers and Circulars 29/2007 and 29/2010 for Post-Primary teachers. The criteria for the award of incremental credit to recognised teachers was agreed under the auspices of the Teachers Conciliation Council (TCC). These circulars provide for the award of incremental credit in respect of teaching service, both within and outside the EU.
Where a school satisfies the criteria set out in the circulars to have service at that school recognised for incremental credit, an award of incremental credit can be made.
Teaching service given outside the Republic of Ireland by a qualified teacher in a school or college which is equivalent to a primary or post primary school in the Republic of Ireland may qualify for the award of incremental credit.
Circular Letter 10/01 Par. 8 relates to service given in Private Schools within the EU and sets out that all teaching service given by teachers in private primary schools within the EU may be reckonable for the award of incremental credit. The credit may be awarded with effect from the 1st September 2000 or the date of a teacher’s appointment in a temporary or permanent capacity whichever is the later.
In order for service under this scheme to be recognised, the following criteria must be satisfied:
• The service must have been satisfactory,
• The service must have been remunerated,
• The service must have been full time.
For the purposes of this scheme, a private school shall be defined as one which:
• has been in existence for a period of at least 10 years,
• offers a range of studies which incorporates all of the courses prescribed on the national curriculum of the State in which the school is located,
• offers a full range of classes to all pupils within its designated range,
• is funded by the payment of pupil fees,
• is open to receive pupils for the duration of the primary school year.
Service in a private primary school situated outside of the EU may also be considered by the Department where it has been demonstrated that the above criteria have also been met. Incremental credit is allowed in respect of approved teaching service outside the EU up to a maximum of 7 years.
Credit for service given in private schools in the Republic of Ireland during an approved period of unpaid leave cannot be claimed e.g. career break.
Where schools do not satisfy the required criteria, then service at that school cannot be considered towards incremental credit, for example, an application for previous teaching service outside the EU would be refused if the school is private fee-paying school, not subject to state funding and fully funded by pupil fees only or not 10 years established.
588. Deputy Grace Boland asked the Minister for Education and Youth the number of autism places in primary schools in Skerries, Rush, Lusk, Balbriggan, Garristown, Naul, Oldtown, Ballyboughal, Rolestown, Saint Margarets, Meakstown and North Santry, in tabular form; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [4495/26]
View answer589. Deputy Grace Boland asked the Minister for Education and Youth the number of autism places in post-primary schools in Skerries, Rush, Lusk, Balbriggan, Garristown, Naul, Oldtown, Ballyboughal, Rolestown, Saint Margarets and north Santry, in tabular form; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [4496/26]
View answer590. Deputy Grace Boland asked the Minister for Education and Youth the number of children on waiting lists to access autism places in primary schools in Skerries, Rush, Lusk, Balbriggan, Garristown, Naul, Oldtown, Ballyboughal, Meakstown, Rolestown, Saint Margarets and north Santry, in tabular form; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [4497/26]
View answer591. Deputy Grace Boland asked the Minister for Education and Youth the number of children on waiting lists to access autism places in post-primary schools in Skerries, Rush, Lusk, Balbriggan, in tabular form; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [4498/26]
View answerI propose to take Questions Nos. 588, 589, 590 and 591 together.
The National Council for Special Education (NCSE) is the statutory body responsible for the provision of special education and allocating supports for students with special educational needs.
Through the accelerated provision of additional special class and special school places over recent years, there are now over 30,000 students enrolled in special classes and special schools. 2,700 new places were created for the 2025/26 school year and these, together with the over 1,200 existing places due to students moving on from primary schools and post-primary schools, has meant that close to 4,000 specialist places were made available for the 2025/26 school year.
406 new special classes were sanctioned for the 2025/26 school year. Of these 103 are in County Dublin, 81 at primary and 22 at post-primary level. This brings to 705 the number of special classes currently in operation in the county. There are also 40 special schools in County Dublin with approximately 2,643 students enrolled. Two of the five new special schools for the 2025/26 school year have opened in Lucan and Belmayne also.
A list of all mainstream and special schools is available on my department's website on gov.ie. In addition, a list of schools with special classes; broken by location and class designation is available on the NCSE website (www.ncse.ie/special-classes).
In order to support the NCSE and forward planning my department published Circular 0039/2025. This circular informs school management and patrons of measures introduced to support forward planning and reiterates the need for parents to inform the NCSE through the Parent Notify process that they are seeking a special educational placement for their child.
The NCSE have formally sanctioned 168 (105 primary and 63 post-primary) new special classes in 159 schools across the country for the next school year 2026/2027. This is the first tranche of new special classes being sanctioned and is a number of months ahead of last year. The NCSE expect to continue to sanction further new special classes over the coming weeks. The earlier sanctioning of these classes will provide clarity for parents and allow schools more time for the planning and establishment of new special classes. Details of the new special classes are available on the NCSE website.
Enrolments to schools are a matter for each board of management and parents apply directly to schools, therefore, the information requested by the Deputy is held at a local level.
My department and the NCSE are committed to delivering an education system that is of the highest quality and where every child and young person feels valued and is actively supported and nurtured to reach their full potential.
