Ministers Foley and Naughton announce plans to establish five new special schools
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From: Department of Education
- Published on: 18 October 2024
- Last updated on: 18 October 2024
Minister for Education Norma Foley TD and Minister of State with responsibility for Special Education and Inclusion Hildegarde Naughton TD have today, 18 October, announced plans to establish five new special schools next year to cater for the increasing number of students with Special Educational Needs (SEN).
The schools will cater for children and young people with complex special education needs up to 18 years of age. They are being sanctioned as early as possible as part of advanced forward planning for the next school year 2025/2026 to ensure that appropriate placements are available where needed to meet the needs of students with special educational needs.
The five new special schools will be established in counties Cork, Dublin (2), Monaghan and Tipperary. This followed analysis by the NCSE and the Department of Education which identified that the level of need in these particular areas could not be catered for by expanding places in existing special schools.
These additions to the country’s existing network of 124 NCSE supported special schools is part of the expanded package of €2.9 billion in Budget 2025 for special needs education.
Minister Foley said:
"As Minister for Education I am committed to having an education system that works for all. The announcement of five new special schools serving Cork, Dublin, Monaghan and Tipperary is a significant step forward. I know there has been a strong demand in Monaghan in particular for the county’s first special school. I have met with parents and groups in Monaghan on a number of occasions and given them a commitment that this would be resolved before the end of the year. I am delighted that this has now been achieved. Budget 2025 dedicates in excess of €2.9 billion to providing supports for children with special educational needs. Throughout Ireland, the number of special education placements continues to grow year on year ensuring that children and young people have access to school places which are appropriate to their needs. This announcement reflects the very strong emphasis on forward planning and roll-out of provision for children and young people with special educational needs.
"Our school communities have demonstrated a real commitment to inclusion. I would like to thank those involved in supporting the continued establishment of special classes and special schools.
"I am pleased that we are making real progress in meeting the needs of our young people and collaborating in new ways to ensure every child has access to a welcoming and inclusive environment to learn and flourish."
Minister Naughton said:
“As Minister of State with responsibility for Special Education and Inclusion, I am committed to ensuring that every child has a school place appropriate for their needs. Special schools play a vital role, and it is for this reason that I am delighted to announce the establishment of five new special schools in Cork, Dublin, Monaghan and Tipperary. This additional provision will make a real difference to families and children with additional needs and give them clarity as early as possible for the next school year.
"Budget 2025 makes the biggest-ever commitment to students with special educational needs and their families I am determined to support students and families in securing school places where they are needed. The Department and the NCSE are undertaking significant work with schools to ensure that additional SEN provision is sanctioned as early as possible ahead of the next school year. Today’s announcement allows more time than ever before for the planning of school admissions, recruitment of staff, staff training and undertaking any necessary building/repurposing works in preparation for the opening of these new special schools for the 2025/26 school year.
"Today’s announcement will benefit children and young people with special educational needs, as well as their families, to achieve the best possible outcomes.”
Today’s early announcement of the new schools is an important milestone because it allows more time for the planning of school admissions, recruitment of staff, staff training and completion of necessary building works.
It is envisaged that existing buildings will be repurposed to facilitate the opening of the new special schools for the 2025/26 school year. Further details such as the precise location of the new schools in each county will be confirmed in due course as part of the finalisation of arrangements for the opening of the new special schools.
The forward planning for special education includes a new circular letter 0080/2024 New measures to support the Forward Planning for Special Education Provision setting out new measures to support the forward planning of special education provision. This was issued in early October by the Department to all schools, following intensive stakeholder engagement,
Among the measures outlined in the new circular letter include:
- Highlighting that the National Council for Special Education (NCSE) will be targeting medium to large primary schools who don’t have a special class to open special classes for the 2025/2026 school year;
- Reminding all post-primary schools to continue to plan to provide 4 special classes, and
- Outlining new streamlined arrangements to support the re-purposing of existing accommodation to facilitate opening new special classes.
The five new special schools are being funded from the expanded €2.9 billion package for special education in Budget 2025,which also includes:
- Up to 2,700 new places for children with special educational needs.
- An additional 768 special education teachers and 1,600 special needs assistants (SNAs) to support children across mainstream, special classes and special schools. This is the highest ever number of SNAs allocated and so in 2025 we will have over 23,000 SNAs in our education system. This is in recognition of the growing needs of children across all settings. In total there will be over 44,000 dedicated staff to support children with special educational needs in our schools.
- Up to 400 additional special classes for the 2025/26 school year.
- The expansion of capacity in existing special schools around the country.
- Additional funding for the School Transport Scheme to provide more places for children with special educational needs and to cover bus contractor costs.
- Increased funding for the Summer Programme, which is of enormous benefit to some of the most vulnerable children in our society.
Over the last number of years, 11 special schools have been established in counties Cork, Dublin, Kildare, Limerick, Meath and Wexford. As part of forward planning undertaken by the Department and the NCSE, additional new special schools are now being planned in the four counties of Cork, Dublin, Monaghan and Tipperary. This forward planning included an assessment of information and data in relation to existing capacity, demand, waiting lists, student enrolment projections, and the number of children travelling outside of their local area to access a special school placement.
The NCSE will work closely with the families of the children and young people concerned to assist them in accessing the new places which will become available for the 2025/26 school year.
Planning for the establishment and opening of the new special schools will begin immediately. This will include a determination of the size of the school required so that the necessary staff recruitment, school policy development and related arrangements can be put in train. Details in relation to the location of the new special schools, the admission process and the number of places to be offered for 2025/26 school year in each new special school will be confirmed shortly. The details of the patron body for each new special school will be confirmed also.
In addition to the establishment of five new schools for the 2025/26 school year, a significant number of school building projects relating to special schools are currently in progress.
In the interim, some modular accommodation projects and reconfiguration works currently being planned or underway at special schools include:
| County | Roll Number | School name | No. of Additional Classrooms |
| Dublin | 20548N | Danu Community Special School | 2 |
| Galway | 19201O | Lakeview School | 1 |
| Galway | 20329B | Tígh Nan Dooley Child Education and Development Centre | 1 |
| Kerry | 19547E | St Francis Special School | 2 |
| Kerry | 19376D | St Ita & St Joseph’s SS | 2 |
| Kildare | 20376K | Saplings Special School | 2 |
| Kilkenny | 19210P | Mother of Fair Love Special School | 2 |
| Mayo | 19773N | St Nicholas Special School | 1 |
| Roscommon | 19789F | Scoil Micheal Naofa | 2 |
| Sligo | 19206B | St. Cecilia's School | 1 |
Information on special schools and the list of mainstream schools with special classes, including new special classes for the current 2024/25 school year, and the types and locations of these classes is published on the NCSE website and is available at www.ncse.ie. The NCSE will continue to update the list as classes are sanctioned ahead of the 2025/26 school year.
Notes to the Editor
11 new special schools have been established over the last five years. These are:
| County | School Name | Roll Number | |
| Cork | Carrigaline Community Special School | 20559O | |
| Cork | East Cork Community Special School | 20574O | |
| Cork | Rochestown Community Special School | 20565N | |
| Dublin | An Cosán Community Special School | 20572K | |
| Dublin | Danú Community Special School | 20548N | |
| Dublin | Libermann Spiritan School Templeogue | 20563J | |
| Dublin | Our Lady of Hope School, Crumlin | 20555K | |
| Kildare | Craddockstown School | 20581L | |
| Limerick | Limerick Community Special School | 20579B | |
| Meath | Cara Community Special School | 20578W | |
| Wexford | Gorey Hill School | 20580J |
All eleven of the newly established schools are in operation. This means that there are 124 special schools in operation for the 2024/25 school year.
The Department, together with the NCSE, is monitoring the availability of places for students with special educational needs throughout the country as a priority issue and will continue to work with relevant stakeholders.
The Department works closely with the NCSE which has responsibility for working with families and schools and for the provision and coordination of an adequate number of specialist educational places to meet local need throughout the country.
The Department of Education and the NCSE have introduced a number of strategic initiatives to plan for and provide sufficient special class and special school places. These initiatives are bearing fruit with almost 1,700 new special classes sanctioned and eleven new special schools established over the last five years.
There is a total of 3,335 special classes nationwide, 2,338 at primary level and 997 at post-primary level. It is necessary to continue this level of progress to ensure that there are sufficient places in special classes in mainstream schools for children who need them.
Expansion of NCSE staffing
In addition, significant additional resources and funding has been allocated to the NCSE in recent Budgets to allow for the expansion of its services. Over the last year the NCSE has made significant progress in recruiting additional Special Education Needs Organisers (SENOs), Team Managers and Advisors. The NCSE now has 120 SENOs nationwide, an increase from 65. The increased number of SENOs will ensure parents/guardians and schools experience an enhanced level of service in relation to queries regarding reports, enrolment in special classes and special schools, training and staffing resources. The NCSE has been in contact with every school to advise them of their new SENO. SENOs have commenced school planning visits to meet with school management in schools in their local area. These visits will continue over the coming years as part of NCSE plans to build stronger relationships with schools.
Additional new special classes
Budget 2025 also provides funding for an additional 400 new special classes for the 2025/2026 school year. This builds on the accelerate provision of almost 1,700 new special classes over the last 5 years and will mean that there will be over 3,700 special classes available for the 2025/2026 school year.
The Department of Education recently published Circular Letter 0080/2024 which sets out a number of new measures to assist with the forward planning of special education provision. The Department also set out that medium to larger primary schools currently without a special class will be targeted to open new special classes. This is to ensure better equity in terms of the provision of special classes across primary schools. Similarly post primary schools must continue to plan to provide an average of four special classes.