(Ireland) Ed Minister: 4,000 special classes for this fall including 399 new ones

June 12, 2025, RTE: McEntee: Difficult to find special class places in Dublin

https://amp.rte.ie/amp/1518078/ 

Minister for Education Helen McEntee has said there have been difficulties finding a place in a special class for some children in Dublin.

Ms McEntee took questions in the Dáil about the provision of classes for children with additional educational needs.

She said that 399 special classes (287 primary, 112 post-primary) have been sanctioned for the next school year - bringing to 3700 the number of special classes throughout the country.

Just under 3,300 children have been identified by parents to the Department of Education since mid-February, she said.

Close to 4,000 places are being made available nationwide.

The minister told Sinn Féin's Education Spokesperson Darren O'Rourke that the vast majority of special classes had opened for enrollment.

"Schools have now been informed of their SNA allocations for September," she said.

She said there will be over 23,000 SNAs this September, the highest number. . . ..

Mr O’Rourke said that "last year we were notified at the start of September that 126 children didn’t have a place."

He pointed out that at a protest last Saturday, it was said that 60 children still didn’t have a place.

Ms McEntee said that she had been meeting the National Council for Special Education and that, as of yesterday, over 92% of children had been allocated a place.

She said that outside Dublin, many counties had either allocated a place or had "pathways to a place."

"The challenge is with Dublin", the minister said. . .