11 new special school classes have been announced for County Waterford.

The announcement was made this morning by Waterford Fianna Fail TD and Minister of State Mary Butler.

7 of the classes will be at primary level and 4 of them will be at secondary level.

Minister Butler told WLR where the classes will go for the coming school year.

“St. Ursula’s National School in Waterford, there will be two SEN classes. I’ve been working closely with the principal there on this. Ardmore National School, there will be one class. The Holy Family National School, there will be one class. The Holy Cross National School in Tramore, there will be one class. Gaelscoil na nDeise Primary School, there will be two classes. Moving on to the secondary schools – CBS Secondary School in Dungarvan. I was there recently with the principal. There will be one class. Ard Scoil na nDeise in Dungarvan, there will be one class. Presentation Secondary School in Waterford City, one class. Our Lady of Mercy Secondary School in Waterford, one class.”

In relation to the ongoing situation at St. John’s Special School in Dungarvan where 20 children remain without a place in September – Minister Butler offered this response.

“In relation to St John’s Special School, there is a waiting list of 20. Meetings were held in the school on Monday of this week to meet with the principal to verify the waiting list, because there is a perception that there could be some children from East Cork, from South Tipperary and from Kilkenny and the Waterford area that may be on more than one waiting list. There’s a verification of waiting lists across all the special schools in the catchment area going on at the moment. That will take two weeks to finalise. On Tuesday, the Principal Officer from the Department of Education was on site in St John’s School in relation to looking at three modular rooms to be put on the site.”

Taoiseach Micheal Martin committed to delivering for the children left behind earlier this week. Minister Butler reaffirmed the commitment to do all that can be done to ensure this outcome.

“It is challenging in relation to additional numbers. It is safe to say as well that in December of 2023, an extension did open in that school with additional classroom spaces. Every option is being used at the moment to try and make sure that every child in Waterford and children all over the country have a classroom space in September.”

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