Despite repeated assurances from the Government, there is still a crisis in special education. Children are travelling miles outside their communities and some are still without a school place. Assurances were given to me that the closing of the portal on 1 October would not mean that any child would be shut out. However, children are being shut out because the National Council for Special Education, NCSE, has failed to engage with them. Only 7% of post-primary schools have opened with the target set by the Department of education. In my constituency of Dublin South-Central, Clogher Road Community College was told by the NCSE last academic year that it would open, but it has not been on the sanction list. At the same time, special schools are facing redesignation and we are still being told that children do not have a school place despite being told that there are plenty of spaces. Why are the NCSE and the Department of Education and Youth running parallel systems? They seem to be running in parallel. I am being told different things and children are being locked out. It is causing confusion and it is very concerning.

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