Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 20 January 2026
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]
Amharc ar fhreagra589. 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]
Amharc ar fhreagra590. 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]
Amharc ar fhreagra591. 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]
Amharc ar fhreagraI 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.
