Jess Casey: Special class vacancy numbers don’t add up

The suggestion of a surplus of available places is out of step with reality

SNA Samantha Flanagan and principal Clodagh Farrell in one of the two ASD classrooms at Stapolin Educate Together National School in Belmayne Avenue, Dublin 13. Picture: Moya Nolan

Special needs assistant (SNA) Samantha O’Flanagan doesn’t mince words when asked what she thinks about an exercise at the start of the school year that found nearly 800 vacancies in special classes, at a time when parents were “at their wits’ end, in tears”.

“Those figures are just absolute nonsense, to be honest,” she said. “As a working SNA, those figures just don’t make sense. Especially in our school, but across the board, they just don’t make sense.”

As reported in the 'Irish Examiner' earlier this week, an exercise by the National Council for Special Education (NCSE), carried out at the start of the school year recorded 782 vacancies in special classes attached to mainstream schools.

But the suggestion of a national surplus of available places is out of step with the reality faced by students, parents and schools on the ground.

Ms Flanagan points to the experience of parents campaigning for school places.

“Parents are applying for 60-plus schools,” she said. “And they are getting 60-plus rejection letters.”

As an SNA in an autism class in Stapolin Educate Together National School, Dublin 13, she sees how students thrive with the right support.

But despite being ready, willing, and able to open more autism classes in an area of huge need, the school has been blocked from opening more.

In recent years, the NCSE and the Department of Education have pursued a policy focused on opening new special classes in mainstream schools which did not already have one open.

Stapolin Educate Together National School has eight children currently attending mainstream who have recommendations to attend an autism class.

However, as its two established autism classes are full, and will remain so for several years, these children have been forced to apply elsewhere across Dublin.

Stapolin Educate Together National School on Belmayne Aveune in Dublin. Picture: Moya Nolan

The school also has upwards of 40 children on its waiting list for its existing classes.

Two children have already left the school as they were offered a place in autism classes elsewhere, including a young student who lives across the road.

“Now she has to walk past the school where she was for years, every day to get on a bus to travel to an autism class,” Ms O’Flanagan said.

According to the Department of Education, the NCSE exercise carried out at the start of the school year found available places across almost every county, with just Laois reporting no vacancies.

In Dublin, it recorded 51, including 37 in primary schools.

When asked earlier in the week why there were so many recorded vacancies, a spokesman for the Department of Education said it was “because there are more special classes in mainstream schools available than there are students looking for them.”

Ms Flanagan said: “It makes no sense because if they had those spaces available, why are our children [who are applying for autism classes elsewhere] not being offered places?

“It seems to me that the concern is children with no school places,” she said, adding that the system is failing to take into account the “hundreds” of children in mainstream who have applied to numerous schools.

Once they are in mainstream, they are essentially being forgotten about. We can’t allow that to happen. These children have a right to an education.

"They have a right to have their needs met, and that’s not happening.

“We have parents at their wits’ end, in tears. They are already having to fight for services and supports and therapies. They’ve had to fight for two years to get the assessment of needs done, and now they are fighting for appropriate school places.”

Stapolin Educate Together National School principal Clodagh Farrell also questioned the vacancies, given the level of demand on the ground.

“Why are they looking at opening more classes next year then, if they have all these empty places?”

Budget 2026 saw funding granted for the establishment of 3,000 new special class and special school places nationally.

When it comes to the reasons why the school has been stopped from opening more classes, it has received two conflicting messages.

Ms Farrell said: “We’ve gotten one message from the NCSE that’s telling us yes, there is need, and there will be a need for additional classes next year, particularly in our area.

“Then the buildings unit in the Department of Education came back and said: “No, no identified need in your area, so we won’t be going down that road.

Our autism classes are full, and they will be for the next two years. For those children in our mainstream, their only option is to move to another school. 

"They’ve built up relationships here; they know the staff. They should be able to stay.”

Elsewhere in Dublin, Shauna Spain is looking for a school place for her son Frankie, who will turn seven early next year.

Frankie, who is autistic and has an intellectual disability, has yet to start school. The family is based in Swords, but has applied all over Dublin, Kildare, and Wicklow for places.

“It’s just rejection after rejection,” Shauna said. “I don’t know what to do, I really don’t.

“In total, between playschools, autism units, and special schools, I am at 89 rejections now. It’s tough.

Clodagh Farrell, right, principal and Samantha Flanagan, SNA, in one of the two ASD classrooms at Stapolin Educate Together National School in Belmayne Avenue, Dublin 13. Picture: Moya Nolan

“Tusla come after people so much for not sending their child to school, but then kids with special needs are just left to fend for themselves. No one has ever contacted me, I’ve had to do all the chasing. He’s falling through the cracks.”

Labour TD for Dublin Fingal East Duncan Smith has been assisting Shauna for more than 18 months in her efforts to access a school place for Frankie.

He told the Irish Examiner the NCSE data on available places made “no sense” to him, given the number of his constituents who have faced issues securing school places for their child.

“You contact the schools, and they say ‘we’re full, we don’t have any more space’. I’m not sure what the disconnect is there at all.”

In Cork, post-primary autism class coordinator Graham Manning is also unconvinced of the figures around available places.

According to the Department of Education, there were 104 available places in Cork at the start of the school year, including 59 in primary schools and 45 in post-primary schools.

“Give us a list,” he said.

The NCSE currently publishes a list of schools with open special classes.

“Stick an accompanying list on that; Here are the available places. So, every parent can apply. If they won’t do that, why not?

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“It would be really easy to prove me wrong, provide a list of the schools. I just don’t believe those figures, categorically.”

He believes there are thousands of students in mainstream nationally who have recommendations to attend autism classes.

“Once anyone enrols in mainstream, they are off the NCSE’s books, no matter how much they may struggle.

“Come April and May, the NCSE will send a letter to all post-primary schools, as it does every year, telling them to open up more classes. It’s a generic letter they send to everybody, which is easy to ignore because they just won’t follow it up.”