I move amendment No. 1: To delete all words after "That" and substitute with the following: "Dáil Éireann declines to give the Education (Amendment) Bill 2024 a second reading consequent on Dáil Éireann's passage of the following motion on 16th October, 2025: notes that: — a child's right to education is enshrined in the Constitution and, under the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, must be accessible on an equal basis with others in the community in which they live; and — the Government is committed to ensuring that each child with a special educational need has an appropriate school place, in line with their Constitutional right and Programme for Government commitments; notes that the Government will: — progress work on the development of a more inclusive education system for children with special education needs by supporting them to attend their local school; — continue to expand the number of special school places, special classes and special education teaching hours as required across the state; — improve communication and outreach to parents of children with special educational needs to streamline the process by which parents apply for specialist school places, reducing the burden on them and improving the timelines, including the introduction of a common application procedure; — continue to increase investment into the area of special education to ensure that every child can reach their full potential; — ensure that available capacity across schools is maximised to make provision for children with special education needs; and — prioritise school building projects delivering additional capacity for special classes and at special schools; further notes: — the continued significant state investment of €2.9 billion this year for supporting the provision of special education, a 48 per cent increase since 2020; — the total allocation in Budget 2026 to provide over €3 billion in funding for special education next year, including the provision of up to 3,000 new special class and special school places, over 1,700 new special needs assistants and 860 new special education teachers; — 97 per cent of all children and young people enrolled in schools, including the majority of children and young people with special educational needs, are supported to attend mainstream classes with their peers; — the strategic initiatives introduced to provide for the continued accelerated delivery of special class places in mainstream schools and special school places with the number of special classes having doubled over the last five years and 16 new special schools being established; — over 3,700 special classes have been made available across the country for the 2025/26 school year ensuring that children can continue to access a special class in their local area avoiding the need for long distance travel; — the National Council for Special Education (NCSE) confirm that over 800 vacant places remain in special classes in primary and post-primary schools across the country at the start of this school year 2025/2026; — Budget 2026 provides funding for teachers and Special Needs Assistants (SNAs) to support the provision of another 3,000 special class and special school places, this continues the accelerated delivery of special education places to ensure sufficient capacity is provided each year and children and young people have an appropriate place; and — the commitment to prioritise investment in special education and school places as part of €7.55 billion in National Development Plan capital funding for 2026-2030; further notes: — that this proposed legislation dates from 2024 and does not have regard to the progress being made by the Department of Education and Youth and the NCSE in introducing new measures to support forward planning for the 2026/27 school year which brings forward the date of notification and will see the majority of new special classes sanctioned by 31st December, 2025 thereby providing earlier clarity for families; — the streamlining of funding to ensure schools can access funding for repurposing accommodation; — the significant investment in the expansion of staffing at the NCSE to assist families of children with special educational needs in all aspects of their educational journey, including accessing a placement appropriate to their needs; — the significant level of funding and supports being provided to schools to deliver accommodation for special classes including school building projects, the repurposing of available rooms, and the provision of modular accommodation; — the commitment in the Programme for Government to introduce a nationwide common application system for school admissions, which has the potential to be a game-changer for students and parents; — the progress which has been made in introducing a common application system, including a new pilot single application for admission to post-primary schools, including admission to post-primary special classes, being rolled out by the Department this year across five areas; — the enactment of the Education (Admissions to Schools) Act 2018 which banned historical waiting lists, thus ensuring parents who move to a new area, or parents who rent, are not disadvantaged; — that this legislation could have a significant and negative impact on a number of groups, and that this has not been properly considered; — the impact that this proposed legislation may have on families of children and young people with special educational needs moving into an area within two years of seeking a school place, in particular families that are renting; — the impact that this proposed legislation may have on families of children and young people with special educational needs who receive a diagnosis and professional recommendation within two years of seeking a school place, in particular young children entering primary school; — the lack of a definition of special educational needs in the proposed legislation and the uncertainty if the legislation applies to all of the estimated 25 per cent of students with a special educational need who may be seeking a mainstream, special class or special schools; — while the proposed legislation allows for children and young people with special educational needs to apply for admission up to two years in advance, it is silent in terms of the actual timelines for schools making decision on admission and therefore it is not clear that the legislation will achieve its aim of providing earlier clarity for parents; — that significant further work on this proposal would be required, including significant consultation with schools and parents, before such a proposal could be considered again; — the Government have published a review of the EPSEN Act 2004, which comprised of over 28,000 responses to online surveys, including 900 responses from children and young people to an innovative easy access survey, and participation in focus groups by 91 adults and 94 students and young people from mainstream, special and Irish medium schools, as well as adults who had left school; — that an implementation plan is being developed and will be published before the end of the year, with changes to existing legislation, policy, and practice under consideration; and — declines to give the Bill a second stage reading for the reasons stated.". I welcome the opportunity to address the Dáil on the proposed legislation. I accept, totally and absolutely, the sincerity of Deputy Ó Murchú and the Opposition who are proposing this new legislative provision. I have worked with them across the House over the past number of years. I look forward to co-operation because we do not all have monopolies on wisdom on any issues that arise. I am open to any proposals that come to me, but unfortunately I cannot, on this occasion, accept the Bill. I will outline a few reasons. I understand and support the desire of Sinn Féin for us to do more to support the families of children and young people with additional needs to access appropriate school places in a timely manner. I know how important it is for families to secure appropriate school places for their children. Since taking up my position as Minister of State with responsibility for special education and inclusion, a number of measures have been introduced to alleviate the stress and uncertainty many families and advocacy groups have relayed to me in my role as Minister of State, my time as Chairperson of the Joint Committee on Disability Matters and my time as a public representative. However, having studied the proposed legislative changes and considered the new measures being proposed and processed by my Department and the NCSE in regard to these issues, I wish to inform the House that the Government will arrange to table a reasonable amendment to the Bill. I ask the House to support our view that the Bill should not get a Second Stage reading. In my opening statement, I will outline the current legislative provisions in terms of admissions to schools, our concerns in relation to the proposed legislation, as it is worded, and some important work that is being progressed on the new common application system for school admissions. In my closing statement, I might provide a general update on the work of the Department and the NCSE on the forward planning of the new special classes and special schools provision for the next school year, 2026-27, and beyond. Deputies may recall the significant amount of engagement and work that went into the reform of the school admissions system in this country a few short years ago. The legal position in regard to admissions to schools is clearly set out in the Education (Admission to Schools) Act 2018 and related regulations. These were hugely reforming and progressive items of legislation at the time. In 2018, legislation banned historic school waiting lists, thus ensuring parents who moved to an area or who rent are not disadvantaged. Schools can decide how to run their admissions policies and processes as long as they do not begin accepting applications for admission for the school year concerned before 1 October of the previous year. The advantage of having a clear starting date is that parents know with certainty that schools will not start accepting applications before this key date, but once the date arrives they are alert to the possibility of schools in which they are interested in commencing their admissions policies. The earliest date is set as 1 October for schools to start their admissions policies. Since 2020, this has become a well-known national date on which schools can start undertaking the admissions process for the following September. This timeline provides for consistency across the entire school system. I understand the purpose of the proposed legislation is to allow for the families of children with additional needs to make applications for school places two years before the child would ordinarily be attending the new school. The Bill seeks to achieve this by amending section 63(4) of the admissions Act by introducing a new provision to enable schools to commence accepting applications for admission for children with additional needs entering mainstream on a different date to the application for mainstream school. The Bill does not go into much further detail beyond this point. Given this lack of clarity and further details in the proposed legislative changes, I and the Government have a number of concerns about the proposed legislation. The Bill does not seek to define the term "special educational needs" and, therefore, it is read to refer to all children with special educational needs enrolled in schools. Previous estimates have suggested up to 25% of students in primary and post-primary schools have special educational needs. It is not clear, then, how the legislation might cater for admissions to mainstream classes made up of children and young people with special educational needs and other children and young people. It is difficult to see how places could be allocated to children with special educational needs prior to others who would be in the same class, as other applicants would still be bound by the 1 October deadline in the year prior to the school intake. In order to ensure fairness, decisions on all applications would need to be made at the same time. It is difficult to see how any benefit could accrue to families or schools on this basis. While the Bill provides for the families of children and young people with special educational needs to apply for admission up to two years in advance, it is silent in terms of the timelines for schools actually making decisions on admissions. Therefore, it is not clear that the Bill achieves its key aim of families having earlier clarity on what school their child will attend. The Bill could also have a direct impact on the families of children and young people with additional needs moving into an area, in particular families renting who have not had the opportunity to apply for admission up to two years in advance. A family who are renting may move into an area and find they are simply too late to apply for school place. The Bill also impacts the families of children and young people with additional needs who receive a diagnosis or professional recommendation within two years of seeking a school place, in particular young people entering primary school. It is also unclear how the legislation might deal with families of children and young people with special needs who may seek to move from mainstream to special classes or from special classes to special schools. Will these families have to apply and wait two years to make this move rather than possibly doing so in the next school year, as the current legislation allows for? Significant work on this proposal would be required, including significant consultation with schools and parents, before such a proposal could be considered again. I am not clear that the proposed legislation actually deals with more significant issues raised by families of children and young people with additional needs. In addition to the need to have earlier clarity around special education provision, the main issue raised by parents of children and young people seeking a special class or special school place is the requirement to make a number of applications for admission to schools. The programme for Government includes a commitment to introduce a nationwide common application system for schools admission, which has the potential to be a game-changer for students and their families. A new pilot single application for admission to post-primary schools, including admission to post-primary special classes, is currently being rolled out by my Department. The new pilot has been introduced across five areas, namely, Athenry, Celbridge, Clonakilty, Greystones and Tullamore. In addition, the common application trial for admissions to special classes among some primary schools in the Dublin 15 area continues to be supported by the National Council for Special Education and is being continued for a second year. It is important that we build on these pilot initiatives and roll out a national common application system as soon as possible. This would have a very significant positive impact for families of children and young people with special educational needs. On the National Council for Special Education and local supports for families, while we wait for a national common application system, it is important that we continue to support and provide guidance to families at local level. The National Council for Special Education has expanded and restructured, and it is now providing support and services on a county basis. The number of special education organisers has almost doubled, to 120 nationwide, since the beginning of the last school year. These new teams and structures are in place now for over a year, and we must continue to see the positive impact this is having for families and schools at local level in terms of support and guidance. Both the senior Minister, Deputy Helen McEntee, and I continue to meet the National Council for Special Education and senior officials in the Department of Education each week in relation to special education provision. This is something that we started back in February after both of us were appointed to the Department, and we continue to monitor the development of the National Council for Special Education and its growing supports for families and schools. In conclusion, I hope I have given the House some insights in terms of some of the concerns in relation to the proposed legislation, as currently drafted, and how we are working to provide a new common application system on schools admission which will address some of the concerns being raised by families of children and young people who may have to apply to multiple schools at present. I would also like to stress that I am very open to considering practical solutions to help to ensure that we are providing more streamlined application processes and alleviating pressures on parents, particularly when it comes to special education. However, these solutions must not complicate matters for their families, but be in keeping with best practice and consider recent initiatives already delivered in this space. Reluctantly, therefore, I ask the House to decline to give this Bill a Second Reading.

Sentiment score: 0.34

I listened to both Deputies. I acknowledge the complete sincerity of the work Deputy Ó Murchú is doing. Others must judge my character but I would like to think that I am open. I do not have a monopoly on wisdom but I have a monopoly on experience and want to make sure that we are doing the best we can. I will outline a number of things we are doing. I outlined the Government's concern about the proposed legislation. I also outlined some work that has been done. In the closing statement, I want to provide a short update for the House on the ongoing work by both the Department of education and the NCSE in relation to forward planning for special education provision for the 2026-27 school year and beyond. The legislation does not take into account progress being made on forward planning for special education. In 2024, the Department of education and the national council introduced a range of new measures to support forward planning for special classes and special school planning. The key element of this was the introduction of a requirement for parents of children and young people seeking a special class or school place to notify the NCSE. This measure ensured that the NCSE had a clearer picture of the local demand for special classes and special school places. Parents of children and young students seeking a special class or a special school place for the 2025-26 school year were asked to notify the NCSE by 1 February. For the 2026-27 school year, this timeline for parents to notify the NCSE was brought forward several months to 1 October 2025. Parents responded in significant numbers and the NCSE is now working to collate the overall number of children and young people seeking special classes or special school places for September 2026. The new parent notification process allows the NCSE and Department to work with schools to confirm the new special classes and special school provision earlier. The aim is to have a majority of these new special classes confirmed by the end of the calendar year 2025. The NCSE has confirmed that over 800 vacancies remain in special classes in primary school and post-primary school across the country at the start of the 2025-26 school year. Budget 2026 provides funding for teachers and SNAs to support the provision of another 3,000 classes and special school places next year. This continues the acceleration of delivery of special education places to ensure sufficient capacity is provided each year and that children and young people have an appropriate place. Both I and the Minister, Deputy Helen McEntee, will continue to monitor the progress being made on confirming new special classes and special school provision earlier through our weekly meetings with the NCSE and senior officials in the Department. I will be happy to update the House on this work over the coming weeks and months. I recognise the progress that is being made on confirming new special education provision earlier and piloting the new common application system. Coupled with the concerns relating to the proposed legislation, as I articulated earlier, I ask the House to support the Government's position on this legislation. In the minute or so that remains, I assure the Deputies and this House that I take the role I have in special education extremely seriously. I know the challenges that are being faced by students and their families. I know they are contacting TDs and looking for help and direction. Both the National Council for Special Education and the Department of education, in our weekly meetings, are acutely aware of the needs that exist and we are working hard. We found the 1 February deadline very time-constrained, which had to be pushed back because of Storm Éowyn earlier in the year, to make decisions about where classes are going and to have buildings in place. I accept the point completely. I know that the Deputy is thinking about the students. I see great work going on around the country. The practitioners at school level, school leadership level, schoolteachers and SNAs do amazing work to help us to build a better special education system and have better outcomes for those children into adulthood. I will continue to update the House. There were more debates than ever about special education in the last term and again this time. That is right and proper because children and families need to have certainty on it. I will continue to work across government to make that a reality.

Sentiment score: 0.40