The chilling footage and grim images of children killed and wounded in Gaza shared by Dr. Morgan McMonagle on last night's "Prime Time" will stay with anyone who saw them for a very long time. I commend Dr. McMonagle on sharing those images and that chilling footage with us.

I will ask the Taoiseach about an issue affecting children and young people here in Ireland, the crisis in special education. Equality in Education, a group of parents who cannot access suitable school places for their children, will stage a second overnight sleep-out tonight in protest at the ways in which the State has failed their families. A few weeks ago, these parents slept outside the Department of Education on Marlborough Street. Today, on World Autism Day, they will bring their protest to our door here at Leinster House.

Following its initial protest, the group met with the Minister, Deputy McEntee, the Minister of State, Deputy Moynihan, and the National Council for Special Education. I acknowledge that everyone in Government and across this House wants to see a school place offered to every child with additional needs in September. However, parents remain deeply frustrated because the Government appears incapable of guaranteeing that such a place will be provided. The last time I raised this issue, the Taoiseach told me the Government would do all it could to work towards providing a place for every child but the NCSE does not even know how many children are without a school place or how many places will be needed. It is therefore understandable that parents are frustrated.

Childhood is short and the consequences of receiving inappropriate schooling or no schooling are very significant for a child. Children who are being failed today do not have the luxury of time yet the Government is slow to even get to grips with the scale of failure. Every day, all of us, including myself, hear from parents who are at the end of their tether. I read the moving words of one such parent in today's Irish Independent. Chrissie Russell is the mother of Finn. She wrote about the rage she feels at the ways in which her autistic son has been failed. She wrote that "the Rage isn’t helpful, but I suspect I cling to it in preference to The Fear, which tearfully crops up on a regular basis when I think about the future." Sadly, her feelings are warranted because so many children cannot get a diagnosis, cannot access a school place or therapies and are not supported at the later stage of the transition from primary to secondary school. Many young adults with additional needs fall off the radar completely. Where is the wraparound support? Another parent told me that all she wants is a fair shot for her son.

As legislators, our job is to act. Parents sleeping out tonight do not want platitudes. They want action and to see that the issue is being taken seriously. The time has come for the Department of the Taoiseach to get involved and for a whole-of-government approach to be taken, a co-ordinated approach that would ensure that the Department of Education and NCSE have the information they need to enable them to carry out the planning needed for every child to get a school place this September. Children with additional needs and their parents are asking when they will see their right to education vindicated.

I thank the Deputy for raising this issue and for making reference to Dr. McMonagle, whose bravery and courage we should salute. I did not get an opportunity to see the footage yesterday evening but I will in due course.

Every child in this country has the right to a school place. That is a fundamental constitutional right and it is the function of Government to vindicate it. That is my intention. I have already convened meetings with eight Government Ministers in respect of the disability issue. There will be full co-ordination across the whole of Government with regard to disability. More specifically, on special education, the Minister, Deputy McEntee, and the Minister of State, Deputy Moynihan, are working flat-out with the National Council for Special Education and the Department of Education to ensure a school place for every child this September.

Progress is being made. There has been exponential growth in investment in special education overall but that is not enough for parents who today face uncertainty regarding a school place for next September. Some 372 extra special classes have now been sanctioned for this year. This is in addition to the number of classes we already have, which is in the thousands, as the Deputy will know. The ultimate objective is to have a central application system in place for the school year beginning September 2026. The aim is to have it in place by then. We also aim to start accepting applications for that school year in November of this year. The closing date for applications this year was February, nine weeks ahead of last year's. The aim is to give the NCSE and Department of Education sufficient time to identify the number needing placements, to encourage schools to set up special classes and to establish special schools where we have to. As the Deputy will know, we have increased the number of special schools significantly over the last four years. An additional five are to be established this year.

We are working flat-out to do everything we possibly can to ensure that every child will have a place next September. Significant issues have manifested in Dublin and Cork. We believe there is a pathway in place such that every child in the Cork area will have a place. I acknowledge that there are still some outstanding issues in the Dublin region that need to be closed off.

That is what we are working and focusing on. We will do whatever it takes to make sure the capacity is in place to provide for that. An additional 1,200 places are available this year, bringing the total number to more than 3,900 for 3,275 students. In other words, 3,275 are seeking places but there is provision for approximately 3,900. That is the cover. We want children to have places in their local schools or in schools within a reasonable distance from where they live.

I thank the Taoiseach for the comprehensive response and for making clear that measures are being put in place to ensure that future planning will be improved upon. There is still serious frustration and doubt about whether children will secure the places they need this September. School principals are expressing this concern to all of us. I recently heard from a school principal who told me parents are now enrolling their children in mainstream classes where they hear that a school has secured planning permission for special classes which have not yet been built. Parents are so desperate for places that their best hope is in classrooms that currently only exist in plans. I spoke to a principal in Dublin this week who told me about her absolute frustration at the waiting list she has to face because so many children in her area are without places and so few places are available. I have heard of other principals who are knowingly oversubscribing their schools simply because the parents pleading with them are so desperate. On the previous occasion on which we spoke, the Taoiseach said he was working to see if places could be ensured for children next September. On World Autism Day, we need a clear commitment that this September there will be places available for every child who needs one.

That is our commitment. That is what the Minister of State, Deputy Michael Moynihan, and the Minister, Deputy McEntee, are working towards to make sure that happens and also for future years. The growth in numbers identifying with additional needs is growing exponentially. If one looks at the most recent census compared with previous censuses, one can see that there has been a significant increase. There are now 3,336 special classes. There will be a further 372 on top of that. We have 124 special schools, 11 of which have opened since 2020. Five more will open this year. There are now 23,400 special needs assistants and 20,800 special education teachers in our schools. That is no consolation to those currently facing issues but it provides an illustration of the enormous part of education provision that is focused and targeted at additional needs education or special needs education, as it may have been termed differently in recent times. That will grow, and we will provide resources to enable it to happen. The focus has to be on a better planning system in terms of a common application, which is part of the programme for Government and to which we are committed.