Water infrastructure pressure affecting SEN provision, MLAs told

Pressure on the water infrastructure system in Northern Ireland is hampering efforts to provide more facilities for children with special educational needs (SEN), MLAs have been told.

The chairman of Stormont’s Education Committee said it was concerning after Dale Hanna from the Education Authority (EA) said he was less confident this year than last that all SEN children would have a school place by September.

Earlier this year, the EA launched a review of SEN provision in Northern Ireland.

Concerns have consistently been raised about the education system struggling to keep pace with the increase in demand for school places for SEN children.

Mr Hanna, the EA’s director of children and young people’s services, briefed the Education Committee on SEN provision.

He said the “primary focus” was on placements and capacity for SEN children in September 2025.

He said: “In terms of placements, this is hugely challenging and it has been for the last number of years.

“I think this year is very different

“We have less options this year and we also have new constraints, for example we’ve got construction constraints.

“We know the water infrastructure issues are impacting across all of Northern Ireland, that is also having a huge impact on us in terms of delivering solutions.”

Construction organisations have previously warned that pressures on the funding of wastewater services in Northern Ireland are having a serious impact on the progression of applications for new developments.

Mr Hanna added: “At the start of the year when we were looking ahead at what we were planning, our high-level assumption was basically we thought we needed about 1,340 additional school places for SEN children over what we had last year.

“With existing capacity and the ongoing work to provide additionality, we currently think that pressure is sitting at about 400.”

He said these pressures included special schools and post-primary schools.

Alliance Party MLA Michelle Guy asked: “How confident are you that those 400 children are going to get a place by September?”

Mr Hanna said: “I probably have less confidence this year than I had last year.”

He added: “As it currently stands I do think it is definitely challenging.”

Committee chair Nick Mathison said: “An honest answer but a concerning one.

“I think for any parents listening to that, there will be a lot of concern.”

Asked about the pace of change for SEN provision, Mr Hanna said: “It is not going to be resolved within a matter of months.

“This is going to be a hard slog.”