Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 20 January 2026
592. Deputy Grace Boland asked the Minister for Education and Youth the number of reading school places available in primary schools in Skerries, Rush, Lusk, Balbriggan, Garristown, Naul, Oldtown, Ballyboughal, Rolestown, Meakstown, Saint Margarets and north Santry, in tabular form; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [4499/26]
Amharc ar fhreagra593. Deputy Grace Boland asked the Minister for Education and Youth the number of reading school places available in primary schools in Swords, in tabular form; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [4500/26]
Amharc ar fhreagra594. Deputy Grace Boland asked the Minister for Education and Youth the number of children on waiting lists to access a reading school place 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. [4501/26]
Amharc ar fhreagra595. Deputy Grace Boland asked the Minister for Education and Youth to provide details of any plans to open additional reading school places in Skerries, Rush, Lusk, Balbriggan, Garristown, Naul, Oldtown, Ballyboughal, Rolestown, Saint Margarets, Meakstown and north Santry for the academic year 2025-26; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [4502/26]
Amharc ar fhreagraI propose to take Questions Nos. 592 to 595, 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.
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.
At present, there are four special schools, and fourteen special classes attached to mainstream schools to support students with a specific learning disability such as severe dyslexia. I want to acknowledge the excellent work they do. It is important to note they were established at a time when there were much fewer additional supports in schools.
In pursuit of a more inclusive education system it is important, as far as possible to support students to attend their local mainstream schools. This means that children and young people can be educated with their peers and are not required to travel long distances to attend special schools or classes.
15,000 special education teachers have been provided to enable schools to achieve this objective. In practical terms this means schools get a substantial additional teaching allocation to support students with special education needs who are in mainstream classes.
The additional resources are intended to support students with the greatest level of need, including those with a specific learning disability such as dyslexia, dyscalculia or dysgraphia.
Of course, I recognise the importance of building the capacity of teachers in mainstream schools to meet the needs of all students. To support this, 338 places are funded each year for teachers to attend post-graduate special education needs programmes. The NCSE offers dedicated professional learning opportunities for teachers supporting students with additional needs. The National Educational Psychological Service (NEPS) also provides professional learning opportunities that are available to all primary and post-primary school teachers on supporting children and young people with special educational needs.
Funding is also made available to schools for the purchase of specialised equipment to assist students. Schools can apply to the NCSE, through their local special educational needs organiser (SENO) for such support.
The need for any additional provision or resources for schools to support students with dyslexia is kept under constant review by the NCSE. 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.
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 (ncse.ie/special-classes).
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.
