Special education minister Josepha Madigan has given an update on the government’s efforts to set up special classes and special school places in Dublin and Cork for the upcoming academic year.
Earlier in the summer the provision of special education places reached a crisis level with a report from the Ombudsman for Children’s Office (OCO) referring to both cities as “black spots” in which the Department of Education was failing children with special needs.
The report noted that as many as 15,500 children were having to travel outside their local school-catchment area every day for education.
Minister Madigan said in a stetement, “Enabling children with special educational needs to receive an education appropriate to their needs is a priority for this Government and for me as Minister.”
“This year, just under 25% of the total Education budget or €2 billion will be invested in supporting children with special educational needs and I will continue to prioritise supporting children with special educational needs in Budget 2023.”
A record 2,535 special classes will open their doors in September, an increase of 383 classes from the previous school year.
This will ensure that approximately 15,759 special class places will be available this year, including 2312 new special class places.
Madigan said that it was essential for the government and the National Council for Special Education (NCSE) to compel schools to open special education classes.
In June, the Education (Provision in Respect of Children with Special Educational Needs) Bill 2022 enabled the minister to direct a school to open a special class within six to eight weeks of receiving a report from the NCSE setting out its opinion that there are insufficient school places in a certain area.
Prior to this the Section 37A process could take between 12 to 18 months to secure a school place for a child.
“My number one priority as Minister of State with responsibility for Special Education has been to ensure that every child in this country has access to a school place and the NCSE has advised that we now have sufficient places available to meet the expected need this school year,” she added.
Madigan previously came under fire from Opposition TDs and campaigners for naming four schools in the Dublin area on RTÉ’s Saturday with Katie Hannon programme, who she claimed had not been engaging with the department on providing school places.
Asked about this, Madigan said that from her perspective, they were “ignoring the importance of correspondence”.
Concluding today’s statement, she thanked St Michael’s House in North Dublin, the Spiritan Education Trust in South Dublin and Cork Education and Training Board for their cooperation.