As we know, childhood is short, and children being failed by the State today do not have the luxury of time. There are massive negative consequences for any child who receives inappropriate schooling or, worse, no schooling at all, yet across the State we see systemic failures in provision for children with additional needs.

That is why, once again, we in Labour will be using our Private Members' time tomorrow morning to propose a motion on special education. That motion has nine sensible, simple and strategic asks to address the ongoing failure of this State to provide school places for children with special or additional educational needs. We are all aware of this crisis because across the country we have all heard the immense frustration from parents, grandparents, siblings and teachers who are desperately trying to do all they can to ensure the children in their lives are provided with appropriate education. Parents are writing to all of us TDs. They are sleeping out in the streets in protest and some are going to the courts. All this is in an effort to move the Taoiseach's Government to provide for that basic right to an education. I quote the brilliant young activist, Cara Darmody, whom the Taoiseach has met. She has asked how Cabinet Ministers can expect the children of Ireland to grow up to respect the law when they see flagrant law-breaking by their own Government. It is a fair point because the simple fact is the State has a legal obligation to vindicate the right of all children to an education, yet it is being taken to court for failing in that duty all the time. While sometimes the State settles or the issue is resolved, at other times we see the State adopting an approach to litigation like something we would expect from a faceless private corporation. This shows contempt for children and their families, because they want nothing more a diagnosis and to be able to get a suitable school place in their community. It is not a tall order, but those who take the cases feel they have no choice but to do so.

It is not just children and their families who are crying out for help. We are also hearing the frustration from teachers, principals, SNAs and school staff. The Taoiseach is hearing it, as are his colleagues in government. During the Easter recess last week my colleague, our education spokesperson, Deputy Kenny, attended the different teachers’ conferences around the country. He engaged with and heard directly from teachers about their frustration on this issue. A recurrent theme he heard about was desperate experiences. One primary teacher he spoke with had 28 pupils, several of whom had learning difficulties, and just one SNA in the class. There was another teacher who was told that no special class in the school would be sanctioned, despite it having more than ten children on a provisional waiting list. Ours is supposed to be the land of saints and scholars, but how can teachers be expected to teach when they are also expected to carry out the roles of a therapist and an SNA, and our SNAs are so overburdened? The Taoiseach often asks where the solutions are in this House. I have a set of solutions here for him. We have our motion. It is before the House tomorrow. I am asking the Taoiseach to commit to passing our motion and to giving parents and children the certainty and clarity they need.

I thank the Deputy for raising this very important issue which is top of the Government's priorities, namely, special needs in general and especially special needs education. I make the point special education now accounts for about 28% of the entire education budget. That is a 48% increase in four years since 2020. Staffing has grown 27%, with 23,400 special needs assistants now in our school system. That is not a story of pulling back, regression, cuts or anything like that, but one of expansion and growth and it will continue to grow. We now have 124 special schools serving 9,112 pupils. There have been 11 new ones opened since 2020, with five more opening in the academic year 2025-2026. The number of children attending special classes in mainstream schools has doubled over the past five years from just over 9,000 in 2019 to almost 19,000 in 2024, with 3,335 special classes now in place to support them. Up to 2,700 new special education placements are planned for 2025-2026. This includes 400 new special classes and 300 special school places. There have been 399 new special classes sanctioned to date and the remainder will follow. An additional 1,200 places are available due to student movement. We will provide up to 3,900 placements this year for about 3,275 seeking them. The aim is to get a place for every child. There have been issues in terms of geography and certain locations and so on, but no stone is being left unturned to get a place for every child this September, because it is a constitutional right of every child to enjoy an education.

It is the Government's obligation to vindicate that right. It is far better that resources are allocated to schools as opposed to the courts. That is always my objective and that of the Minister for Education, Deputy McEntee, and the Minister of State for special education, Deputy Michael Moynihan. We will continue to work on this matter at primary and post-primary levels and make sure we do everything we can. There are still some challenges in the Dublin area in the context of the speed of getting special classes constructed, planning constraints, etc., but we are working flat out. The Minister and Minister of State are doing so on the special education front.

On assessments of need, we have developed and sanctioned the national in-school therapy programme. That is on the way. The decision has been taken. We will roll out a national system whereby we will have therapists starting in our special schools.

The Taoiseach gave some figures. Of course there are some good news stories throughout the country. I have visited schools that have superb facilities. I acknowledge that. There are some new builds that are really impressive. As the Taoiseach stated, however, there are still immense challenges. In the Dublin area, there are immense challenges. The Taoiseach referred to growth and expansion. There is not sufficient growth or expansion to meet the growing demand and needs that exist. I will provide some figures. Some 14,221 children are overdue assessments of need. Nearly 13,000 are awaiting first contact with a children's disability network team. Last September, shamefully, 126 children with special educational needs were not given school places. The delay in accessing and securing appropriate places caused immense frustration and distress for those children and their parents, many of whom we have met. We in the Labour Party have put forward a set of nine clear asks in our motion for tomorrow. I ask that they be taken on board. We are calling on the Government to adopt a plan that will provide parents and, crucially, children, with clarity and appropriate school places.

As I said, there is a plan. In the past five years, we provided 11 new special schools and five more are set for 2025-26.

On the High Court decision some years ago in respect of preliminary assessments or the then system organised by the HSE, the experts have come back to the Government and stated that it has compounded the delay and backlog relating to assessments of need. The Government is looking at legislative options to create a better screening programme to make sure there is ongoing assessment to deal with that backlog. That work is under way. Yesterday, the Cabinet sub-committee on disability took decisions in that respect. The Minister, Deputy Foley, and the Minister of State, Deputy Naughton, in the Department of children made contributions at that meeting. Last year, the previous Government approved the recruitment of 40-odd therapists to work with the National Council for Special Education, NCSE, in an advisory capacity for schools. There has been strong and very successful recruitment process, which is interesting. The next phase will be a national in-school therapy scheme provided by the NCSE on behalf of schools, initially for special schools, under which therapists will be recruited.