The Government pledged that children who have a diagnosis of autism and who require either a special class or a special school placement to meet their assessed needs will get those places. Despite the child being in primary school for many years, it should come as no surprise to the Government the child will then progress to secondary school. Yet, each year parents face a last-minute scramble to find such places. This is due to a lack of proper forward planning by the National Council for Special Education and a lack of a political will from Government to tackle this annual issue which unnecessarily stresses out parents, children and schools. Has the Government any ongoing plan to avoid this yearly debacle?

It is just a firefighting exercise constantly.

I assure the Deputy there is no lack of political will. If he looks at what we have been able to achieve in recent years, he will note that over 28,000 children are now being supported in special schools and classes. Since 2019, just five years ago, there has been a 15% increase in the number of special education teachers and a 30% increase in the number of special needs assistants. Budget 2024 – we will be working on this in the provision for next year as well – provided for an additional 744 special education teachers and over 1,200 additional special needs assistants. Eleven special schools have been established since 2019 and there has been €4.8 billion in capital funding. However, from time to time all of us receive specific examples of parents finding it difficult to have their children placed in the appropriate education. We still have to work on that, but I can tell the Deputy there is no lack of political will or investment. We are increasing the numbers of teachers and SNAs in this space, too.