Special Educational Needs
Dail Éireann — 2026-09-30
============================================================

Catherine Ardagh (FF), Dublin South-Central

I thank the Deputy for bringing forward this very important Topical Issue today on behalf of the parents and children involved.
This Government is committed to the provision of additional special places for children with special educational needs. Budget 2026 has already provided funding for over 400 new special classes and at least 400 new special school places for the 2026-27 school year. It was intended this would create almost 3,000 new special education placements for 2026. This would be in addition to placements created due to the natural movement of students, such as those transitioning from primary to post-primary or those completing school.
In April 2026, the Government agreed to additional funding for the provision of special education services for children across the country. This money will fund special education teachers, SETs, additional SNAs, increased capitation, access to school transport for children in special education settings and start-up grants for schools opening new special classes and inclusive special classes. The year 2026 represents the largest ever expansion of specialist education in the history of the State. Through the combined efforts of the Department and the NCSE, 587 new special classes have been sanctioned for the 2026-27 school year, including 70 inclusive special classes. This represents an increase of over 40% in the number of special classes being provided in 2026.
The earlier sanctioning of new classes provides clarity for parents and allows schools more time for the planning and establishment of new special classes. The vast majority of new special classes being announced are being provided in available school accommodation which is being reconfigured as a special class. In total, over 4,300 special classes will be operating in mainstream schools next year, an increase of 130% since 2020. In County Dublin, 845 special classes are now in operation providing capacity for 5,070 students. This includes 140 new special classes for the 2026-27 school year. In April 2026, the Minister, Deputy Naughton, and Minister of State, Deputy Moynihan, announced the establishment of four new special schools, including the Deputy’s school in Balbriggan.
Dedicated working groups including the Department, the NCSE and relevant patron bodies continue to meet to support the establishment of the new special schools, which include a dedicated group for the school in Balbriggan. Offers of places have been made, as the Deputy pointed out, and new principals, teachers and SNAs are being recruited. It is intended that these new schools will open later in term 1 of this school year. The NCSE continues to advise parents at local level on developments. These bring to 20 the number of new special schools established in recent years.
As the Deputy is aware, an earlier notification deadline was introduced this year to support forward planning and to earlier equip the NCSE with local information as to what students would be leaving school, transitioning to post-primary specialist places or those seeking specialist placement or entering the education system for the first time. This information is critical when examining where provision needs to be placed to meet demand. The attentions of the NCSE and the Department have now turned to the 2027-28 school year and forward planning is already under way. The Minister of State, Deputy Moynihan, continues to meet the NCSE and senior Department officials each week to monitor the progress being made in providing planning for the 2027-28 school year.
I want to speak to the parents now. We have seen a 130% increase in school places since 2020, but that does not sit well for a parent or child who does not have a school place. I want to let them know the Minister of State, Deputy Moynihan, is doing everything he can to work with the Department and the NCSE to ensure no child is left without a school place. I acknowledge the angst those parents and children are going through in having their education disrupted like this, but I will make sure I speak directly to the Minister of State on this matter. I again thank the Deputy for raising it today.

---

Source: Houses of the Oireachtas. Licensed under CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). The Official Report is revised after first publication; the fetch timestamp below identifies the version quoted.

Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2026-09-30/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-10-05T01:00:59+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-09-30