I thank the Deputy for providing me with the opportunity to respond. As he knows, this Government is fully committed to supporting children with special educational needs to achieve their full potential. The primary responsibility for the education of all pupils, including those with special educational needs, is the class teacher or subject teacher. The special education teaching allocation provides schools with additional teaching hours to support the learning needs of students in mainstream classes based on their profile of need. The number of special education teachers, SETs, in Galway has increased from 1,003 to 1,187 since the 2020-21 school year. Special needs assistants, SNAs, play a central role in the successful inclusion of students with additional and significant care needs in schools by helping to ensure that these students can access an education to enable them to achieve their best outcomes and reach their full potential. The number of SNAs allocated to schools in Galway since the 2020-21 school year has increased from 887 to 1,224. By the end of this year, there will be close to 21,000 SETs and almost 25,000 SNAs in our mainstream classes, special classes and special schools. In the case of both SETs and SNAs, it is accepted that any model which distributes resources requires to be flexible to allow for circumstances where additional need may arise. In these circumstances, schools, including those in Galway, can request the National Council for Special Education, NCSE, to undertake a review of their allocation. Where the NCSE identifies the need for additional resources, they will be provided so that they are available to the school ahead of the relevant school year. It should be noted that schools in County Galway have seen an overall increase of 18% in the number of SETs in the past five years and, as I outlined, a 27% increase in SNA allocation.
Sentiment score: 0.56
We must accept that we have put a huge amount of resources into special education, particularly for SNAs and SETs. In this year's budget, it was one of the sectors that got the greatest increase. We are deeply committed. Whether in mainstream, special classes or special schools, the strength of our special educational system is based upon SNAs. They do amazing work in school communities. They enable children to flourish and benefit from the education system. On the backs of SNAs and SETs, we have built special education, together with all the school communities across the country. We have close to 25,000 SNAs within the education system this year. There has been an increase in the budget figure and the number of SETs. We are continuing to invest in the education system and particularly on the special education side.
Sentiment score: 0.50
I take the point. If I may be a little flippant, I might contest that Bweeng is in the Cork North-West constituency, rather than Cork North-Central. That is only a flippant point.
Sentiment score: 0.00
I appreciate that. I understand. I am fully aware of the work that is going on in Bweeng. I do not want to single out any specific school. I take the point. If I am realistic, I am heartened each time there is a debate on special education by the commitment across the House and Deputies' fundamental understanding of the challenges that are there in respect of special educational needs and special classes. We are putting in resources. There are almost 25,000 SNAs across the system. We are putting in further supports for educational needs. I take the point that there is a considerable amount of need within the school communities. We are working extremely closely with them. Neither the Minister, Deputy Naughton, nor I is blind to the challenge we have and the growing need that is there. We are going to continue to expand. We expanded the figures in the most recent budget and will continue to do so. With the resources in the classrooms, we will allow children to grow and develop and to lead as full a life as possible. That is fundamentally what I believe. I take the Deputies' points. Each school should engage with the process for reviews and appeals. There is a process there. However, I take the point about the seriousness of the engagement.
Sentiment score: 0.17
I thank the Deputy. The Government is fully committed to supporting special education needs to achieve their full potential and the programme for Government makes a number of commitments to deliver on this objective. The NCSE has responsibility for co-ordinating and advising on the education provision for children with special education needs. I assure the Deputy the 860 special education teachers and 1,700 special needs assistants will be allocated well in advance of the commencement of the 2026-2027 school year to mainstream classes, special classes and special schools. As in previous years, the special education teaching allocations for mainstream classes is intended to be published as part of the general staffing allocation in February. The NCSE manages the allocation of SNAs to the school and it is the responsibility of the council to ensure these resources are allocated to children with the greatest level of need. The number of SNAs available for allocation has continued to increase annually and this has resulted in a significant increase in the number of SNA posts in schools. Budget 2026 provides for a further 1,700 SNA posts, which will bring the total number to close to 25,000 by the end of 2026. As in previous years, the NCSE will advise all schools of their SNA allocations in this year and these allocations will be made known to schools at an earlier stage than in previous years. The provision of early allocation to schools will ensure they will be in a position to plan for the 2026-2027 school year, including recruitment where necessary. In addition, given the large number of additional resources for specialised provision, it is important to point out 300 special classes have already been sanctioned for 2026. That is months ahead of where we were last year. This time last year we just looking at the numbers in the first and second week of February. We are a number of months ahead, we have those sanctioned and there will be recruitment in relation to those as well.
Sentiment score: 0.42
I thank the Deputy. Last year 1 February was the deadline. That was extended by a week due to Storm Éowyn. We looked at trying to plan in February, March and April last year and saw the challenges families and people were meeting. A decision was made by the then Minister, Deputy McEntee, and me to bring the dates back to 1 October. One of the first discussions I had with the Minister, Deputy Naughton, upon her appointment was to look at the whole concept so we can bring better planning into the system and greater certainty for students and families. A number of years ago I was at a school gate meeting a family whose child was finishing sixth class on 26 June without knowing where the child was going to start post-primary education in September. Through the various challenges we have had on it, I constantly have that family in my mind, and we need to do far better. The Deputy makes the point that families and parents are stressed about this. We have moved this system back four or five months to bring certainty to them.
Sentiment score: 0.17
I accept the point they are travelling across the county. Transport and trying to ensure the provision of special education is as close as possible to families is one of the things we have discussed. A lot of children with additional needs are travelling long distances to get to their school places and it is something we need to be very mindful of. Regarding 1 October, for anyone after that date we are issuing the letters of eligibility. Those letters have started over the past day or so and they will continue. We have worked very closely on it. I want to be clear on this because there is some commentary that 1 October is an arbitrary deadline but 1 October was brought in to ensure we would be in a position to have forward planning. On that planning, it is important we have sight of the information from other Departments like the Departments of children and Social Protection. We need good information to plan properly. There are a raft of issues around it but we need sight of where the challenges are. We are looking at ways and means of ensuring we have information earlier, not just when the parent notifies the NCSE but also if a child is on domiciliary care or AIMS. I have no issue if the Deputies have individual cases. We will work with them to try to find solutions for them.
Sentiment score: 0.26
My understanding is the issue is 1 October. That is my information on that specific case. We are aware of it and will follow up and report back to both the Deputy and his colleague. In regard to Drogheda and County Louth, in particular, the Government is committed to continuing acceleration of provision of additional special classes and special school places across the country. The National Council for Special Education is the statutory body responsible for that and the Department and the NCSE are working very closely with both myself and the senior Minister in the Department, Deputy Naughton, to ensure we have certainty for families and students into the 2026-2027 school year. To date, the Department and NCSE have sanctioned 301 special school classes. That is a number of months earlier than it was last year. Five of these new special classes are being provided in County Louth. This brings to 120 the total number of special classes available across County Louth. Additionally, there are four special schools in County Louth supporting 421 children. The sanctioning of these new special classes is a number of months ahead of last year and should provide greater certainty for parents. It also provides schools with more time to establish new classes. I expect schools will open new classes to move forward now with admissions processes. The NCSE will keep us informed weekly of developments in relation to the special classes and the provision of education. We will respond directly to the Deputy and his colleague on the issue raised. As we are talking about Gaelcholáistí, I think visitors from Gaelcholáiste Chiarraí are about to join us in the Public Gallery. It would be remiss of me if I did not mention it. I have a vested interest. My good lady wife is working in the school.
Sentiment score: 0.32