McEntee: Difficult to find special class places in Dublin

RTÉ News​

2 days ago

The Minister for Education says there have been difficulties finding a place in a special class for some children in Dublin.
Helen McEntee has been taking questions in the Dáil about the provision of classes for children with additional educational needs.
She says 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 ever amount.
Mr O'Rourke said he wanted to drill down into the headline figures, saying they had been iterated for some time.
He asked about children who don't yet have an appropriate school place for September, and whether that figure was available today.
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.
Minister McEntee said she'd been meeting with the National Council for Special Education and that as of yesterday, over 92% of children had been allocated a place.
She said that outside of Dublin, many counties had either allocated a place or had "pathways to a place."
"The challenge is with Dublin", the Minister said.
She said that schools were working hard, but admitted that the need was greater than it ever had been before.
"Where schools had been sanctioned and haven't opened, they're being engaged with." 10.33
Mr O'Rourke said he hoped the Minister would keep the Dáil updated on figures.
He also mentioned four children in Sligo, five in Kerry and some in other areas who had yet to get a place.
"Any child that's known to the NCSE, be it in Kerry or anywhere else, as far as I'm concerned, there are places available...the biggest challenge is in Dublin."