Special Educational Needs

Wednesday, 21 January 2026

Questions (119, 120, 121, 122)

Ryan O'Meara

Question:

119. Deputy Ryan O'Meara asked the Minister for Education and Youth the number of new special classes which were delivered 2025, by county. [4764/26]

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Ryan O'Meara

Question:

120. Deputy Ryan O'Meara asked the Minister for Education and Youth the number of new special class places that were delivered in 2025, by county. [4765/26]

View answer

Ryan O'Meara

Question:

121. Deputy Ryan O'Meara asked the Minister for Education and Youth if new special schools were delivered in 2025; and the details of same. [4766/26]

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Ryan O'Meara

Question:

122. Deputy Ryan O'Meara asked the Minister for Education and Youth the number of new special school places that were delivered in 2025, by county. [4767/26]

View answer

Written answers

Minister of State at the Department of Education and Youth

I propose to take Questions Nos. 119 to 122, inclusive, together.

This 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.

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, 291 at primary and 115 at post-primary level. This brings to 3,741 the number of special classes currently in operation in the country.

Generally, these classes are resourced at a 6:1 student/teacher ratio and two special needs assistants (SNAs) are allocated to each class.

There are also 129 special schools with approximately 9,226 students enrolled, this includes the 5 new special schools that opened for the 2025/26 school year.

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: https://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's website.

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.

Question No. 120 answered with Question No. 119.

Question No. 121 answered with Question No. 119.

Question No. 122 answered with Question No. 119.