National Council for Special Education (NCSE)

The National Council for Special Education (NCSE) was set up to improve the delivery of education services to persons with special educational needs with particular emphasis on children. The NCSE local service is delivered through their national network of Special Educational Needs Organisers (SENOs) who interact with parents and schools. The number of SENOs has increased from 65 to 120 with the aim of providing an improved level of service for parents and schools.

As part of the forward planning for special education provision, the NCSE aims to assist parents seeking a special class/school placement for their child/young person. Parents of children and young people seeking a special class or special school place should contact the NCSE and have regard to the annual process and timelines for notifying the NCSE. For example those seeking a special class or special school place for the 2026/2027 school year were asked to notify the NCSE by 1 October 2025.

NCSE contact information: www.ncse.ie/contact-the-ncse

Any contact with the NCSE and/or SENO by a parent or guardian regarding special needs provision is completely separate to the primary school survey. All responses to the survey are confidential. We will protect the identity of the people who respond to this survey. We will not publish any individual response or identify to schools, any parent, guardian or child.