I welcome this evening’s debate. It is important that we continue to shine a light on the area of special education to ensure that our children and young people with additional needs are supported in school to help them achieve their full potential. I appreciate and accept that some families and young people believe the system is not doing enough for them, but supporting young people with special educational needs is a priority for me as Minister for Education and Youth, and for my colleagues across government. Our track record is testament to that. In 2026, more than €3 billion will be spent on special education. This is the highest ever annual provision and represents a 58% increase over the funding provided in 2020. Since 2020, we have almost doubled the number of special classes in our primary schools, going from 1,319 to 2,629. We now have more than twice the number of special classes in our post-primary schools, going from 517 to 1,112. Some 16 new special schools have been opened and four more will open for the next school year, 2026-27. Special school enrolments have increased by 20% since 2020. More than 40% of special schools have benefited from new or upgraded buildings. We continue to invest in our special education teachers and SNAs, and there will be close to 22,500 SETs and approximately 25,000 SNAs in our schools by the end of the year. We are progressing the establishment of a new education therapy service, which will be introduced in 45 special schools to begin with. The first of these new therapists will be in post in the National Council for Special Education next month. Earlier this year, the Government also confirmed that there would be no reduction for any school in its allocation of SNAs for the coming school year. Separately, work is progressing to finalise a workforce development plan for SNAs, an SNA redeployment scheme and a new circular letter outlining the role of the SNA. Along with the Minister of State, Deputy Moynihan, I recently hosted a day-long engagement with SNAs and stakeholders on these issues and I want to see progress made on these matters as quickly as possible. I know that an alternative circular on the role of the SNA is in circulation, and I appreciate the bona fides of those who have drafted it. However, it is important to note that any changes that I or my Department will bring forward in this regard will be made as a result of close consultation and co-design with the trade union Fórsa, the recognised representative body for SNAs, in addition to SNAs and relevant stakeholder groups. This consultation will be reflected in the three key documents relating to SNAs that I plan to publish shortly, documents which have been co-designed with SNAs working in schools across every community in the State. Many more developments and initiatives are under way to support our children and young people with special educational needs and the Minister of State will speak to some of these in his contribution. It is worth highlighting that demand for education services has grown significantly in recent years, with 38,000 additional students added to the system in the past five years. Today, one in four children, or around 240,000 children, require extra supports. This has led to a very large expansion in special education services. Around 30,000 require specialist provision in special classes or special schools. There has also been a major increase in the number of children with additional needs, both in Ireland and internationally. To ensure these children receive the supports they need and to meet increased demand, the Government this morning agreed to additional funding for the provision of special education services for children across the country. This money will fund 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. For the balance of time remaining, I want to touch on two issues. The first one is to the forefront of the minds of many parents at present and that is the provision of school places for September. The second is plans for developing a more inclusive education system. My Department and the NCSE have engaged intensively on an ongoing basis over recent months with schools and stakeholders to plan for the provision of more special class and special school places for the coming school year. As Deputies will be aware, budget 2026 provided funding for up to 433 new special classes and up to 400 new special school places. As of last week, the NCSE had sanctioned 432 new special classes, a number of months ahead of last year. Utilising the additional funding secured at Cabinet, my Department and the NCSE will work to ensure that further new special classes can be confirmed as soon as possible. These new special classes will be mainly made up of regular special classes and some new inclusive special classes. These new inclusive special classes, five of which were announced last week, will receive the same level of resources and funding as regular classes and can support more children and young people to attend their local school with their peers. These new classes should also facilitate schools to support students to access mainstream classes for large parts of the day, something that is already happening in many of our schools, particularly at post-primary level. The inclusive special classes are supported by management bodies from the post-primary sector. My Department and the NCSE met with special education advocacy groups and parent representative bodies to discuss these new inclusive special classes last week and a further engagement is planned for tomorrow. I ask schools that are opening new special classes to progress now to run admissions processes and offer places to students. My Department's policy has long been to ensure that children's needs are met in the most inclusive school environment possible. For the vast majority of children and young people, this means they are supported to engage with education in mainstream classrooms every day. However, some children and young people with complex needs require much greater levels of support. My Department and the NCSE have worked very hard to ensure there are sufficient places in special classes and special schools in order that those students' needs are met. It is acknowledged that there is a significant body of work to do to ensure that greater opportunities are provided for inclusion for those students in particular. My Department is conscious, for example, of the obligations on us as a country arising from the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. This aligns with the previous policy advice published by the NCSE which challenges us to ensure the progressive realisation of a more inclusive education system. In that regard, a number of very significant developments will inform how a more inclusive education system can be developed. Following the review of the EPSEN Act, which was published last year, my Department has been finalising an implementation plan arising from that review. My Department has also been working to finalise a roadmap for inclusion that has been prepared by the European Agency for Special Needs and Inclusive Education on foot of a successful application to the EU's technical support instrument programme. This roadmap seeks to address the recommendations contained in the NCSE's policy advice on inclusive education. As mentioned earlier, my Department is also working hard to finalise and publish a workforce development plan for SNAs. I now intend to establish a forum of key stakeholders, including parents, advocates, representatives from schools, unions, patrons and interested parties, to deliver a high-level action plan on the next steps. This plan will be led by our stakeholders and by those with lived experience. It is intended that this forum will be independently chaired to ensure it can deliver the reforms required in a way that will bring cohesion to the system and provide stakeholder confidence in a robust and child-centred process that can be delivered to meet the needs of children and young people with additional needs. I will provide further information on this forum in due course. I appreciate that there is a significant body of work ahead of us, working together to agree a common consensus on the future of special education provision. To be clear, the Government is unwavering in its commitment to special education. It is committed to ensuring that young people with additional educational needs are helped to thrive and to prosper. Our track record and the next steps I have outlined are a testament to that.

Sentiment score: 0.45