Number of children requiring special education placements is 'evolving all the time', says minister 

To receive a special educational placement, either in a special class or special school, parents must register through the Parents Notify portal, run by the National Council for Special Education (NCSE). This year, the deadline to apply for 2027 was brought forward to the end of September. File picture

The number of children requiring special education placements is built into next year's budget, but the numbers will "change right up to next year", according to ministers. 

At a Budget 2027 briefing on Wednesday, education minister Hildegarde Naughton and minister of state for special education Michael Moynihan would not be drawn on providing the figure for how many students will need a special educational placement for 2027. 

The department’s budget for 2027 includes funding for 1,352 special education teachers and 2,339 special needs assistants (SNAs) under a €3.8bn allocation to special education.

Separately, the Department of Education figures put the number of children receiving support for special educational needs now at 250,000, growing from 70,000 a decade ago.

To receive a special educational placement, either in a special class or special school, parents must register through the Parents Notify portal, run by the National Council for Special Education (NCSE). This year, the deadline to apply for 2027 was brought forward to the end of September.

Announcing the move over the summer, Ms Naughton said it was necessary to give her “the opportunity to feed into the budgetary process to meet the needs of the most vulnerable children in our society”.

On Wednesday, neither Ms Naughton or Mr Moynihan would provide the figure their department put forward during budget negotiations.

Ms Naughton said: "As part of our budget negotiations, it was really important that we can, number one, forward plan, and having the portal in place is a really critical part of that." 

The numbers for 2027 are coming in “the whole time”, she said.

“We are confident that we have the budget for September in 2027 in relation to the demand for special education.” She added: “These figures are evolving all the time.” 

Bringing the portal deadline back gave the department greater insight around forward planning, said Mr Moynihan.

The October deadline last year was not a “cliff edge” deadline because numbers kept coming in, Mr. Moynihan added. “And we are still accepting numbers after September 1 [this year].” 

He added: “It is wrong to give a number because that would give an impression to families ‘well, that’s the number now, that’s all they are doing’.” 

He urged families who need access to special education for 2027 to continue to use the Parents Notify portal.

“We have sight on what we need to do but those numbers will change right up to next year because students within schools, parents will want to try mainstream schools, maybe it doesn’t work out. We are engaging. The NCSE, ourselves, and the department are meeting on a weekly basis to review and to ensure we’ve sight on where the challenges are.

"But that number will change, and if I give you a number today, that number would not be accurate in two weeks time, or even two days time.”

• Jess Casey is Education Correspondent.