Jen Cummins
Ceist:526. Deputy Jen Cummins asked the Minister for Education and Youth the number of children still awaiting an appropriate school place, by county, in tabular form. [3694/26]
Amharc ar fhreagraTuesday, 20 January 2026
Ceisteanna (526)
Freagraí scríofa
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.
The National Council for Special Education (NCSE) is the national agency with responsibility for the provision of special education places. For the 2025/26 school year the NCSE sanctioned 406 new special classes bringing to 3,741 the number of special classes in our schools. Combined with 300 new special school places this has created 2,700 new school places for students with special educational needs.
This year, the approach taken was to maximise the use of existing accommodation in schools to ensure new special classes could open as quickly as possible for the 2025/26 school year. The NCSE also prioritised schools which did not have an existing special class. This has ensured that 80% of the new classes sanctioned are in schools with available accommodation.
Where schools require modular accommodation for new special classes, these projects are being fast-tracked by my department to deliver this accommodation as early as possible. In a small number of instances where a delay in new special class accommodation is expected such as where new modular classrooms are being provided, contingency arrangements are being made with the relevant schools with the support of the NCSE.
The NCSE has advised my department that the vast majority of children and young people seeking a special school or special class place have now been assigned a school place. They are working very closely with the remaining families to ensure that they are being kept updated as the remaining special class and special school places are being finalised by a small number of schools.
For the 2025/26 school year the NCSE advise that a small number of special class places remain in many counties in the country for those still seeking placement. While these places may not be in a preferred school, vacancies do exist.
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.