For most children across the country, this is the first week of the summer holidays, an exciting and positive time. For hundreds of families, however, this is the first week of a final countdown they have long been dreading because, as of this week, far too many children with special educational needs are still officially without school places for this coming September. What a disgrace in a republic that claims to value education.

In desperation, many parents have been forced to go public about their children's situations. One such parent is Labour Councillor Alison Field, who is in the Gallery today. On her Instagram account, one will find posts about her work providing support for people in her Dublin community every day. As of last night, one will also see posts about her work in her new role as Deputy Lord Mayor of Dublin city. I congratulate her, and I hope the Taoiseach will join me in congratulating her and, indeed, his own party colleague, the new Lord Mayor of Dublin, Daryl Barron.

There is another running theme to Ali's social media posts. She has had to use her profile to highlight the ongoing failure of the State to provide her son James with a school place. Recently, James received rejections from two more schools. That brings the family's grand total up to 18. James, a vulnerable child, has been rejected 18 times, refused care and refused an education. In Ali's words, he has been on the Department's books since he was five. He is 12 now. The Department of education has had seven years to provide him with a secondary school place and to plan for this. Now, with mere weeks to go, his mother has again had to resort to social media to plead for answers. The family is banking on one last school, hoping for what Ali describes as a miracle.

Families like Ali's should not need a miracle. What they are asking for is something that most children can take for granted. In a wealthy country in the 21st century, an education should be a given, but so many children have been abandoned by the State. I refer to children like six-year-old Kristian Walsh, who is autistic and non-verbal, and for whom this September will mark his third year without a primary school place. His mother says that most of her days are now spent fighting for a basic right that every child should enjoy.

The Minister, Hildegarde Naughton, and the Taoiseach have repeatedly assured parents that every child will have a place. Is that true, though? Parents have heard these promises before. Many have had to become experts in advocacy and public policy because all they are getting are delays, confusion and copy-and-paste refusal letters. Many now say that they have no hope left. What can the Taoiseach say to someone who has lost the hope of providing their child with an education? When he knows there has been a shortage of places and that demand is rising, why are parents and children now entering the summer holidays without any certainty?

Now that schools are closing for the summer, how many children are still without a school place for next year and when is the Government going to treat this as a national emergency? For many parents like Ali and many children like James, this is a personal emergency.

The scale of demand for special education places and our response to it over the past six years have been exceptional. I think that balance and perspective are required here. Thousands of children are being provided for every year and additional places are being found.

The Deputy knows herself that when the portal was opened earlier last year, which was a good thing, the National Council for Special Education, NCSE, received applications from about 7,860 children for special placements.

That was more than twice the number who did so ahead of the current school year. Let us acknowledge that. Of those 7,860, 6,000, or 75%, were already enrolled in a school but were seeking special provision in addition to the placement in a given school.

Every child who requires a special school placement and who has notified the NCSE will have a place in September. That is the target. We have already announced 580 new special classes - 378 at primary level and 202 at post-primary - that will open this September. In addition, there are 60 new inclusive special classes, with the latest tranche of five additional classes announced yesterday by the Minister of State, Michael Moynihan. The number of primary special classes has grown by 99%, from approximately 1,319 to 2,629 today. Post-primary special classes have grown by 115%. That is from 517 to 1,122 over the past five years. The number of special needs assistants, SNAs, has increased by 45%. We will have more than 26,000 SNAs working in schools by the end of the year. There will be almost 22,500 special education teachers in place by year end. Sixteen new special schools have opened in the last number of years. Four more were recently announced in Balbriggan, Citywest, Bray and Monasterevin. Special school enrolments are up by 20%. Over 40% of special schools have benefited from new or upgraded buildings. Clearly, the Minister, Hildegarde Naughton, and the Minister of State, Michael Moynihan, and the Ministers and Ministers of State before them have been very active on the issue. We have more to do.

I fully accept the anxiety, stress and trauma that a family, and parents in particular, can experience when they are finding it extremely difficult to get a school place. We have put in place provisions for the NCSE to be more proactive and act as advocates for children in securing an appropriate and suitable place for the child.

Changes occurred prior to this school year. Some 6,000 additional students who were already in school have sought special accommodation. It is fair to say that the Department has been stretched but has moved at pace to provide the additional places, teachers and SNAs to meet the need that was out there.

We certainly acknowledge that places have been found for many children. Of course that is welcome, but it should not be remarkable or something to boast about. There are still children, parents and families left waiting and left without certainty. I welcome the Taoiseach's commitment - I think he did give a commitment - that every child who needs a school place will have one this year, but parents are losing hope that the Government will fulfil these promises because they have heard this before and there is still no certainty.

After February's debacle, when the NCSE told 200 schools that they would lose SNAs, we thought there might be progress and certainty for special education. We have been here every year. Every year, we have heard from parents that their children, such as Kristian and James, are being left without a place. They and their families are paying a terrible price for this failure. We know that, for every period of time that a child is left without a place, it impacts negatively on their development.

The Government already found hundreds of millions of euro for special education this year. Indeed, it had to bail out the Department of education earlier this year. Parents were told the resources would be there but we still do not know how many children, such as James and Kristian, are left without places. Can the Taoiseach guarantee those places will be available this September?

There are about 30,000 students now who are supported across special schools and special classes. The Deputy is correct that we allocated an additional €646 million to education. That is helping in terms of special education provision. Opening the portal early last year led to far more applications than perhaps was anticipated by the Department. The number of applications almost doubled, even though last year we delivered approximately 2,700 new special education places and well over 450 - close to 500 - special classes. This is growing exponentially. The bigger question for all of us in the Dáil and so on is how this evolves over time.

More critical analysis and evaluation is required.

Thank you, Taoiseach.

There are 26,000 SNAs. The number has increased dramatically over the last five to six years.

Thank you, Taoiseach. Time is up. Deputy Boyd Barrett.

Provision is being provided and resources are being allocated.