On behalf of the Social Democrats, I extend our deepest sympathies to the friends, colleagues and family of Garda Kevin Flatley. Garda Flatley lost his life while serving the community to keep us safe. Our thoughts are with all those mourning this terrible loss, his wife Una, and his children Aoife and Erin.

The State is continuing to fail children with additional needs. All over the country there are hundreds of children who do not have a school place or an appropriate school place. The damage this is doing to children, to their development and their well-being is unforgivable. The stress and anxiety this causes families is incalculable. Now, a number of families have been forced to take legal action against the State over its failure to provide their children with an education. One mother who has taken a case has an eight-year-old child with autism who has never attended school. In a sworn statement, she told the High Court, “The sad truth is that if I never sent [the boy] to school, nobody would know and nobody would care”. The really awful thing is that this mother is right. Children with additional needs do not enjoy an automatic right to education. Every year hundreds of these children fight to get a school place. Their parents must beg, plead and cajole, and ultimately take legal cases to vindicate their rights, all so their children can get a place in a classroom. Despite these efforts, they are often unsuccessful. This relentless battle with the State, which should be there to support these families, is all-consuming, draining and exhausting. It is bringing many parents to the brink.

Successive governments have promised to address this scandal but still children with additional needs are not just failed, they are consciously failed. The State either does not care enough to provide appropriate school places or it lacks the competence to do so. These families are not looking for special treatment. They just want their children to have the same rights as other children in the State. They want them to be able to learn and develop to their maximum potential. They want them to be able to enjoy the routine and activities of a school day. They want them to be able to socialise and make friends with other children. This is all they are asking for. Families with children who have additional needs are fed up with platitudes and they are fed up with broken promises. They want to see action.

Will the Taoiseach tell me whether the State will be fighting these families in the cases now before the courts? Will he give a commitment that every child in this country will have an appropriate school place in September?

First of all, every child is entitled and has a constitutional right to an education. It is our job as the Government to vindicate that right. I do not accept the Deputy's presentation that the Government does not care. The Government does care. There is evidence of that. I do not want to go through all the statistics as that does not console a particular parent or family who are having difficulty in getting confirmation of a school place for next September.

Expenditure has increased exponentially in the special education area, and rightly so. It is now about 28% of the education budget, with a 48% increase since 2020. We now have about 124 special schools, with 11 opened since 2020. There had been a lapse before 2020 but since 2020 we have opened new special schools and built 11 of them. Five more are opening in 2025-26. 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.

We are planning a substantial number of school places for this year. Some 3,900 places will be available for 3,275 students known to the National Council for Special Education, NCSE, who are seeking special classes and special school places, through additional capacity.

There is a challenge and intensive work is ongoing. I have been in touch with the Minister of State with responsibility for special education and inclusion, Deputy Michael Moynihan, and with the Minister, Deputy Helen McEntee, on this issue and particularly in the Dublin area in endeavouring to get specific confirmation around students who have yet to get a place confirmed.

Some of the issues relate to getting the sanctioned special classes ready before September. They will definitely be provided, as they have been sanctioned, but I am referring to the logistics of it. In some cases it could be Portakabins and in others it may be a matter of getting new facilities in place. No effort will be spared to make sure everyone gets a place rather than having people seeking to vindicate their rights through the courts. I do not want that. There has been a significant increase in terms of children presenting with special and additional needs. Work is also ongoing in terms of the NCSE and the Department getting far better at predicting and having databases for the future through the former whereby the application dates will come forward earlier in the year and we will have a common application system nationally for children with additional needs. This issue is being given intense attention by the Government right now to give that assurance to parents.

I thank the Taoiseach for his response. Families have heard these promises before. There is a world of difference between a sanctioned classroom and a classroom that will actually open in September. A child cannot go to school in a classroom that is just sanctioned; it has to be up and running. No family should have to fight to get an education for their child and no parent should have to take legal action against the State to vindicate this right. A total of 399 new special education classrooms have been sanctioned for the next school year. How many of them will be open in September? The Taoiseach did not answer me. Will the State be fighting these cases that have been taken by parents and families? Is he able to give a commitment that every child will have an appropriate school place in September?

The Deputy is correct. As I said, 399 new special classes for the next year have already been sanctioned in the past month. This has been done much earlier than in previous years. I do not have a detailed report in terms of each particular class. There are many with which there are no difficulties, but there are some in respect of which there are difficulties in terms of the logistics of getting them built, getting modular buildings in place or in terms of planning. Again, I am working with the Minister, Deputy McEntee, and the Minister of State, Deputy Michael Moynihan. They are working extremely hard on this issue with the NCSE.

Níl aon amhras faoi sin. Tuigimid go bhfuil brú ar thuismitheoirí. Tuigimid go bhfuil géarghá do roinnt ranganna agus níl sé cruinn fós an mbeadh áiteanna ag roinnt acu i Mí Mheán Fómhair, ach táimid ag déanamh ár ndíchill chun go mbeimis sásta go mbeadh na háiteanna ann Meán Fómhair seo chugainn. We will do everything we possibly can to make sure that every child has a place next September, and certainly has visibility in respect of a place in the next school year. We will work flat out to make sure that becomes a reality.