Michael Moynihan
Cork North-West · Fianna Fáil · Ireland
“I cannot emphasise enough the respect that the Minister, Deputy Naughton, and I have for special needs assistants and the contribution they make to education. In March, we met the SNAs to have further engagement and consultation with them and to understand their roles.”
“We are very conscious of the issue. A huge number of groups that I have met over the past while, particularly on the dyslexia side, have all been discussing assistive technologies. That is also the case for children who are non-communicative and non-verbal. Assistive technologies are extremely important for them.”
“By way of background, 85% of the applications processed for assistive technology between January and June have been approved. We are always conscious of those who fall outside the scheme.”
“The approximate cost to the State per mainstream pupil is currently €1,400 annually, while the cost to the family is €100 per pupil. The total cost of the school transport system in 2025 was €537 million, equating to almost €3 million being spent on the provision of school transport per day.”
“I thank the Deputy. We are looking at ways to ensure that if there is a ticket issued, it will be used. Anecdotally, the Deputy and other colleagues tell us about school routes the length and breadth of the country that have spare capacity but, when we look at the system, all of the tickets on that particular school route are occupied and…”
“Under the current scheme, schools receive funding towards computers and specialised equipment required for educational purposes. To qualify, a student must have a diagnosis of a physical or commutative disability and a professional assessment confirming the equipment is essential to access the curriculum.”
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“That brings us to the nub of the point that the Deputy wants to make, namely, that there be a focus on the post-primary level. I will take that request back. The total number of special classes in County Louth is 98 - 75 at primary level and 23 at post-primary level. I take the point made by the Deputy and we will work with her and the communities in County Louth to make sure we address any shortfalls.”
“The Department of Education, together with the NCSE, has been working with parents, schools, patron bodies and other stakeholders in County Louth and across the country to provide sufficient special education placements for children with special needs, in this case in the Louth area. By the end of this year, the number of special classes available nationally in mainstream schools will have doubled from 1,800 to more than 3,700 for the 2025-26 school year. This includes 400 classes the NCSE will sanction for this September. Of the 409 new special classes sanctioned by the NCSE for the current year, 289 are at primary level and 120 are at post-primary level. Of the new special classes sanctioned for the 2024-25 school year, 16 are in County Louth - 13 at primary level and three at post-primary level.”
“If there are specific schools, communities or policies Deputy McGreehan would like to raise in terms of County Louth, I have no difficulty in meeting her and working my way through them.”
“In the role I have now, I will work as hard as I can to make sure that is not the plight of any parent or any children in my time in office. The Deputy mentioned County Louth. The Department of Education, the NCSE and all the officials will work to ensure that places are provided, both at primary school and at post-primary, in a timely manner and that families are not completely stressed out for six, seven or eight months not knowing what will happen. We need to respect the children who have additional needs and we need to respect the families, parents and communities by having this done in a timely manner. I will work with the Deputy regarding County Louth and specific schools, areas or even policies she would like to raise. I know she is passionate about this issue. She has always shown that when we have worked together in the past.”
“We need the information from very early on to make sure the State is properly empowered to make sure there are no gaps within the education system. The Deputy mentioned post-primary education. It is one of the areas that we are having a particular difficulty with in some communities in respect of children who are leaving primary school but have nowhere to go come 1 September. As I mentioned in the previous debate, I met parents at school gates whose children were leaving primary school education in the last week of June and they did not know where they were taking up education the first week of September. I do not mind sharing with the House that as a public representative, I felt totally inadequate when meeting those parents on that day.”
“I thank the Deputy for her commitment to special education and for the work she did on that committee and in Seanad Éireann, as well as the work that she continues to do, in relation to special education. As the Deputy outlined in her contribution, a huge amount of money is being spent and 400 extra classes are being opened this year alone. We need to look at some communities - the Deputy mentioned County Louth - and we will be working hard. Extra SENOs have been put in place and more people have been working to this end. We are far ahead of where we were this day 12 months ago in relation to providing special education places for children with additional needs but it is not good enough. We simply need to do better at both primary and post-primary levels.”
“I thank the Deputy for raising this issue. Over the past four and a half years, we sat on the disability matters committee. I know the passion the Deputy brings to the issue of special education in Louth. In many of the discussions we had at that committee, she brought forward the challenges that are there, not only at primary school but post-primary as well and, indeed, in preschool and the AIM programme. In one of the long debates that we had in the Joint Committee on Disability Matters, the Deputy raised the correlating of information from the AIM programme onward to ensure that the education system was better prepared. We are doing that in the Department.”
“On a general comment, it is welcome overall on the part of the Department and the NCSE that large schools are engaging with the process on additional special classes. It is hugely important that this happens and that they engage. On the point the Deputy made about the subsidence, has that information been fed back to the Department? If any technical or professional report they have drawn up on the subsidence on the site has been sent back to the Department, we can follow it up. If there is any information that the school has, we can follow it up. I will come back to the Deputy with a response on any other documentation that he may have or any information he has that he wishes to submit to the Department.”
“I am led to believe that there was some further engagement in this regard but I am quite happy to engage, through the Deputy, with the school to see is there anything further that we can do in relation to this. I am not giving any commitments but I would certainly engage with the Deputy and the school authorities to see is there a way forward.”
“At that time, considering all the relevant impediments to delivering the accommodation and the site constraints, the Department was not in a position to provide funding for the significant demolition of the school building. In light of this, officials in the Department contacted the NCSE to advise it of same and to establish the special classes in other schools in the area. Subsequently, funding was approved under the ASA scheme in June 2022 for the replacement of prefabs on site with one modular unit. Specifically in relation to the Deputy's request, I understand he has been engaging with the school authorities on this for quite some time and that it is something the Deputy feels strongly about.”
“In relation to the school referred to by the Deputy, I can confirm that the Department received an application in 2021 under the additional school accommodation, ASA, scheme. The application was for funding for the provision of three special education classrooms. The Department's school building technical team carried out an in-depth review of the school site in 2021. The review confirmed that the school and the site are at maximum capacity and that it would not be possible to provide the required accommodation on site unless a vast amount of existing accommodation was demolished and replaced with two-storey accommodation, as the Deputy outlined in his opening remarks.”
“I appreciate the Deputy raising the issue. I will deal with the specific issues he has raised in respect of Scoil Eoin. I thank the Deputy for the question and for the opportunity to outline how the Department and the NCSE continue to support children with additional needs. I want to stress that enabling students with additional needs to receive an education appropriate to their needs is an ongoing priority for this Government, myself and the Department of Education. In 2025, the Department will spend more than €2.9 billion on special education, which is more than a quarter of the entire education budget. This funding has greatly boosted the numbers of special classes, special education teachers and special needs assistants.”
“In the programme for Government, disability services have been singled out as an issue on which we must make progress. Over the past five years, I had the honour of chairing the Joint Committee on Disability Matters, the membership of which comprised colleagues from across the House. We were the first parliament in Europe to have a disability matters committee. I listened at first hand to the challenges that exist not just for children but for people with disabilities from the cradle to the grave. We simply must do better in a timely manner. We must do better if we are, in all conscience, to honour what people have said before us about cherishing all people equally. I, along with my colleague, the Minister, Deputy McEntee, will do what I can to ensure we have a better educational system for people with additional needs.”
“Building on this is the programme for Government's commitment to create a dedicated national therapy service. I listened to all Members who brought forward the issues their constituents have brought to them. All of them are desperately genuine. In my time as a public representative, I have met and worked with families. We know the pain that all of those families have and the difficulty and frustration they experience every step of the way. I, the Minister, Deputy McEntee, and the whole of Government hope to ensure that we iron out the issues and ensure there are places for children with additional needs. We want that to happen earlier in the year to ensure we take the anguish away from parents. We must redefine how we are treating children who have additional needs and their families into the future. That is a top priority for me.”
“Some Members asked where we are going to get SNAs. Thankfully, we do not have a difficulty in recruiting SNAs. We have SNAs who are trained and willing to work. We must acknowledge the enormous contribution that SNAs are making to our educational process. On special education and education for our most vulnerable children, we are going to have to put raw politics aside. We must all face this issue together. It is a national issue. There has been significant investment in the past while but more needs to be done. We are examining the need for therapists in special schools. There is a commitment in that regard in the programme for Government and we will work to ensure it is implemented. It is important that there are educational therapy supports in special schools.”
“It is important to recall that 97% of all children attending school today, including the majority of those with additional needs, do so in mainstream classroom settings. Those children are supported by the growing numbers of special educational teachers and SNAs. My colleague from Cork made reference to teacher training. It is hugely important that we take note of that. The Minister and I both take recognition of that point. It is important that the challenges for teachers, as they are trained and come into the system, are met head-on and that those teachers are trained to do that. The special places that will be available in September will only be made possible by the individual school leaders, the class teachers, the 15,000 special educational teachers and the 12,500 SNAs who work in mainstream classes.”
“We are all working hard to ensure that parents will know the special classes in their areas within the coming weeks. As the Minister noted, last week we had a very detailed meeting with the NCSE to identify where the challenges lie and how we can make sure there is action for families. I am happy to work with Deputies across the House who have specific queries about individual children or specific schools in the context of special education. The Department and the NCSE will be happy to provide updates on these queries. The Minister spoke about the growth in the number of special education places, by way of special classes and new special schools, and in the number of special education teachers and SNAs.”
“This year, parents had to submit notifications to the NCSE by mid-February. This needs to happen earlier. We have to make sure we consider the matter further without putting extra pressure on parents to garner reports earlier as well. There is no point in changing the dates and putting more pressure on more families. We need to make sure the system is streamlined in order that there is less pressure on families and parents. Children should not be in a position of only being told in June where they are going to go to school in September. I have met parents and children at the school gate who have not known at the end of the school year in June where they will be going to school the following September. This is simply unacceptable. We have to ensure that it does not happen this year or in the future.”
“As a public representative, I have met many parents over the years and assisted them with the application process. I took up this role knowing all too well the pain, anguish and frustration experienced by parents, families and entire communities. Parents often feel forgotten or ignored. They also sometimes feel they are not recognised for the challenges they face in their family lives. I say to those parents that I know the struggles they are facing and that it is one of my top priorities as Minister of State to ensure we have a system which works for parents and children. We must achieve a process whereby places become available in a timely manner. I will work to establish application timelines that will be the same as those which obtain for children with no additional needs who apply to mainstream schools.”
“It is crucial that engagement between school management bodies, the NCSE and the Department progresses as quickly as possible. Central to the current systems are co-operation and goodwill between all the partners in education. I pay particular tribute to school leaders, teachers, SNAs and all who work so hard in our school communities to make them better for children of all abilities. The funding needed is in place and I am confident the capacity required will be provided. I will be working with my officials to ensure it is delivered as quickly as possible. As I outlined during a recent debate on the new programme for Government, over the entirety of my time as a public representative, I have always been interested in special education.”
“It is important that the issue of services for children with special educational needs is kept to the fore of Dáil proceedings at all times because this will ensure that together, across the House, the Government and society, we will deliver a better service. I listened carefully to the contributions of all Deputies. It is clear, as the Minister already outlined, that we need to continue to do more to ensure that the provision of new and additional special education placements happens earlier each school year. The NCSE has confirmed that almost half of the 400 new special classes provided for in the coming school year have been sanctioned. It is working very closely with schools to confirm the remaining new special classes as soon as possible. I want this work to progress more quickly.”
“I thank Deputies for tabling the motion before us. I welcome the parents in the Public Gallery. I also welcome the contributions that have been made so eloquently by Members across the House. I thank those who have wished us well in our endeavours. I am delighted to have the role of Minister of State with responsibility for special education and inclusion and to be working alongside the Minister for Education for the betterment of all. This is a role I cherish deeply, and I thank the Taoiseach for appointing me. It is a role to which I bring a significant amount of lived experience. I know full well the challenges that many families are facing on a daily basis in respect of the issues under discussion.”
“I will work as hard as I can with the resources that are available through the NCSE and through the Department. We will try together. This is an issue that concerns all public representatives. We have met parents and we know the challenges that are being faced, with many cases of complex needs. We will, however, work as hard as we can to try to find solutions for the parents of children in Waterford and throughout the country.”
“I thank the Deputies. I agree wholeheartedly with what the Deputies have said. I fully understand the challenges that are being faced in Waterford and across the country in relation to school places. It is an issue that behoves all of us. In my role and the responsibility that I have, I intend to use everything at my disposal to ensure places are made available. I know and I understand fully, as a public representative and indeed with the lived experience, the challenges that are being faced across the country, and particularly the challenges the Deputies have raised in Waterford. In one of the remarks I made in my contributions, I said that we are waiting and that the Department and the NCSE are working. I am assured that the NCSE is hoping to be able to confirm additional special classes in the area in the coming weeks.”
“In relation to new special class provision at primary level across the county more broadly, the NCSE is engaging with schools and school patron bodies to confirm new special classes to open for the coming school year. There should be progress on confirming these new special classes shortly.”
“The Deputies will know the contact details of local SENOs and I also know that parents have reached out to the public representatives in the area as well. The need for additional special school capacity across County Waterford and the adjoining regions will be kept under review by the NCSE and the Department of Education. Specifically, in relation to St John’s Special School, Dungarvan, the NCSE is engaging directly with the school regarding the needs of the children in the local area. I assure the Deputies that both I and the Department have sought and are awaiting an update on this in terms of any potential need for additional accommodation. I am assured that the NCSE also hopes to be able to confirm additional special classes in the area over the coming weeks.”
“Martin’s currently has a project for an additional four special education classrooms, a quiet space and ancillary accommodations. At a local level in County Waterford and indeed nationwide, the NCSE is examining which special schools have capacity to expand and is targeting medium and larger primary schools with no special class, or just one special class, to open a new special class. As schools begin to enrol students and as places become available, the NCSE will advise and support parents to ensure all children have a suitable placement for September. It is important for planning purposes that parents engage with the NCSE when seeking a special educational placement for their children.”
“The spend on special education is at an all-time high, with more than a quarter of the education budget allocated to special education. Since 2020, almost 1,700 new special classes have been provided, bringing the total to more than 3,330. Of the 400 new special classes sanctioned for the 2024-25 school year, 12 are in County Waterford, seven at primary level and five at post-primary level. This brings the total number of special classes in Waterford to 70, 44 at primary level and 26 at post-primary level. In addition, there are three special schools in the county. All three have expanded provision in the last number of years to accommodate more children, with St. John’s Special School and St. Martin's Special School availing of building projects in recent years. St.”
“I thank Deputies Cullinane and McGuinness for raising the issue. At the outset, I stress that enabling students with special educational needs to receive an appropriate education is an absolute priority for me and the Government. It is the Government's priority to ensure that all children have an appropriate school placement and that the necessary supports are provided to our schools to allow children with special educational needs to flourish and prosper. Importantly, for myself as the Minister of State responsible, I want to try to ensure that the lead-in times for planning and making spaces available is as efficient as possible in order that stress on parents can be reduced as much as possible. Parents need to have certainty about where their children will be going to school. That is crucially important.”
“The review of the Education for Persons with Special Educational Needs Act is expected to be published early this year. This is about ensuring that the views of persons with disabilities are fully considered in policy making. The review will help us to understand what aspects of the law are working and whether aspects of the Act should be amended. It is important that we look at providing an inclusive system where children with special educational needs can attend their local schools, within their local communities.”
“We have seen a major shortage of places across the country, but particularly in urban areas, for children going into primary school in the first instance and again when they are going on to second level education. I have met many of these children and their parents over the years. I know their frustration and the difficulties they face at primary level and, more particularly, post-primary level. We must continue to work to ensure that children requiring specialist placements can access them in their local area. While my preference is for the NCSE and my Department to work collaboratively with schools to make sufficient progress for children with special educational needs, we can use legislative provisions to compel schools to make provision for or admit children with special educational needs if required.”
“Over recent months, in collaboration with the Department, the NCSE has completed just over 1,000 school planning visits. These will be key to determining which schools will provide new special classes for the coming school year. These additional SENOs will also ensure that parents will be better supported in making choices in relation to the education of their child with special educational needs. I will be working very closely with the NCSE to ensure that special classes are confirmed as quickly as possible in order that parents and schools will have certainty in the context of planning for the coming school year. My Department and the NCSE will continue to work closely on forward planning of special education provision with a particular focus on expanding post-primary special classes and special school provision in the coming years.”
“I have already met senior Department staff and will shortly be meeting representatives from the National Council for Special Education, NCSE, as part of my new role. I want to engage with special education needs advocacy groups and parents' representative bodies to listen to their concerns and work to address them in a collaborative way with our education stakeholders. Many of our schools do great things in the area of special education. I want to build on this to ensure that schools, voluntary boards of management, school leaders and staff are supported to do even more to provide top-quality teaching and learning experiences for students with special educational needs. The number of special education needs organisers, SENOs, recruited by the NCSE grew from 65 to 120 at the start of this school year.”
“As part of the wider whole-of-government approach to addressing the challenges faced by children and adults with disabilities, I am determined that we do more to better support children and young people with disabilities in our schools. The Taoiseach has openly charged Ministers individually to consider the position of disability services within the remit and scope of their Departments and collectively as a Government. I am determined to make progress quickly across a number of areas within special education. Everyone wants to do their best, but I want to ensure that all stakeholders are moving in the same direction and working towards the same goal, with children at the very centre.”
“Over one quarter of the education budget is now dedicated to special education. Disability services are a key focus in the new programme for Government. This is only right and proper because when we analyse the recent census data, we find that almost 20% of members of the population report having a disability. It is vital that we keep that at the very core of Government. Commitments such as increasing special education provision, providing specialist services in schools and supporting teachers and others in school communities to provide inclusive environments and custom teaching practices are all assurances which will provide what the Government wants to see, which is a progressive and inclusive education system for all children.”
“In that regard, I am really looking forward to engaging with all of the advocacy groups and other stakeholders in progressing and building on the achievements that have been made in special education in recent years. For example, the number of special classes this year is double what it was in 2020, with over 3,700 classes nationwide accommodating 22,500 children in mainstream settings with their peers. In the same period, 11 special schools have been established, with a further five new schools due to open in the coming school year, one each in counties Cork, Monaghan and Tipperary and two in Dublin. These schools will ensure that children with the most complex needs receive a beneficial education. The expansion of provision has been supported by substantial investment in recent years.”
“I welcome the opportunity to address the Dáil in my capacity as Minister of State with responsibility for special education and inclusion. Over the past number of years, if not decades at this stage, in my time as a public representative, I have been interested in this area. In the past five years I chaired the Joint Committee on Disability Matters which afforded me a major insight into the lived experience and the difficulties faced by parents and students with special educational needs. Prior to that, I chaired the education committee when mainstreaming was in its infancy, as was the bringing on board of special classes in different schools. I have huge experience of that and have dealt with many families, children and communities with additional needs. I have personal experience that I can bring to the table in this Department.”
“While we pay enormous tribute to all of the people and the communities that came together to help and reach out to their neighbours, and we have to compliment ourselves on the meitheal ideal of supporting each other, we have to put a protocol in place from the Government side to ensure that when these events happen, there is a certain protocol that happens involving local authorities and Government and State agencies and everybody is called to put their shoulder to the wheel immediately when these weather events hit.”
“I know the local authorities are working desperately hard to try to repair the roads and on drainage and so forth, but I draw the House's particular concern to the road from Clonbanin to Cullen. Funding was allocated in the latter half of 2024 and contractors have been on site, but because of the amount of snow that fell and the condition of the road, it is in an absolutely dire strait. I understand that contractors are on site at the moment but we need to upgrade that road. The money that has already been committed to it needs to be spent on it because this has been one of the most challenging roads in our area during the last period.”
“We also have to compliment the Army, who were brought in by Cork County Council to work on it. We have to look at how will we futureproof ourselves against the challenges that lie ahead. A number of futureproofing measures have to be taken. We have to ensure that all sporting clubs, and all utilities in particular, are wired and fit for the adoption of generators straight away because we need to have backup generators in every community. The advice is that these storms will be more frequent and we have to futureproof ourselves. It is hugely important that we take massive lessons from what has been a bruising experience for the vast majority of citizens of this country over the last six or seven weeks. Some roads have been left in an appalling condition, particularly after the snowstorms.”
“Areas right throughout the country were seriously affected. Our area was seriously affected from 4 or 5 January by one of the most unprecedented snow storms. In some parts of Duhallow in north Cork, there was between 16 and 20 inches of snow. I compliment the farming community who really rose to the challenge in terms of putting their machinery at the disposal of the community. There was a massive community effort by everybody to try to clear roads. Many houses were cut off for the bones of a week. There was isolation and fear. They were not just without power, but also without water. ESB crews have worked in hugely difficult circumstances right through from the end of November to the present day on a number of storms. We have to compliment them and compliment the council staff who worked against the clock.”