Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 26 May 2026
551. Deputy Emer Currie asked the Minister for Education and Youth the number of special classes launched in Dublin 15 in 2025 at secondary school level, broken down per school; the number of places made available to students already enrolled in the school; the number of places made available externally, in tabular form; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [39014/26]
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) publishes the list of special classes in mainstream schools on its website www.ncse.ie. The NCSE’s published list indicates that 407 new special classes were established for the 2025/2026 school year, 291 at primary level and 116 at post-primary level.
Of the new special classes established in mainstream post-primary schools for the 2025/2026 school year, 22 are located in County Dublin. Five of these are in mainstream post-primary schools within the Dublin 15 postal district.
|
School Roll Number |
Local School Name |
Number of new special classes established for the 2025/26 school year |
|
70081V |
Rath Dara Community College |
2 |
|
76062B |
Castleknock Community College |
2 |
|
76574F |
Eriu Community College |
1 |
All five of the new special classes in mainstream post-primary schools within the Dublin 15 postal district for the 2025/2026 school year were established as autism special classes. Each autism special class at post-primary level is allocated 1.5 teachers and 2 Special Needs Assistants to provide for six children and young people.
Each school prepares and publishes their own admissions policy and runs their own admissions process in line with the Education (Admissions 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.
According to information provided through the Eircode system and the An Post addressing guidelines, the routing key D15 is assigned to the geographic area corresponding to the traditional Dublin 15 postal district. All addresses, including school addresses, located within the traditional Dublin 15 postal district are issued Eircodes beginning with the routing key D15. Schools with an Eircode beginning with the routing key D15 are classified as being located within the traditional Dublin 15 postal district for the purposes of this response.
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 achieve their full potential.
