Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 27 November 2025
330. Deputy Barry Heneghan asked the Minister for Education and Youth the number of sanctioned autism classes in Dublin Bay North that are scheduled to open for the start of the school term in September 2025, with comparative figures for September 2021, September 2022, September 2023 and September 2024, in tabular form; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [67167/25]
Amharc ar fhreagraThis 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.
Almost 1,900 classes have been sanctioned by the National Council for Special Education (NCSE) in the last five years, sixteen new special schools have been established and many more expanded. For the 2025/26 school year alone over 400 new special classes have been sanctioned bringing the total number of special classes nationwide to over 3,700. Five new special schools were established and capacity is being expanded in a number of other special schools.
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.
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 that they are seeking a special educational placement for their child. An earlier date of 1 October was set for parents to do so.
My department and the NCSE are committed to ensuring that sufficient special education placements remain available for children with special educational needs and will continue to review and monitor the situation as to where new specialist provision is required.
The details requested of the number of new special classes in Dublin Bay North are listed in the following table.
|
Year |
2021/2022 |
2022/2023 |
2023/2024 |
2024/2025 |
2025/2026 |
Total |
|
Number of classes |
6 |
4 |
6 |
4 |
7 |
27 |
