Department must publish the Dublin 15 Special Education Report Now
Department must publish the Dublin 15 Special Education Report Now - The Labour Party
Labour’s education spokesperson Eoghan Kenny TD, together with Councillor John Walsh in Dublin West, have called on the Department of Education to immediately publish the long awaited report of the Government’s Taskforce on Special Education in Dublin 15 and to urgently roll out a centralised application system for autism class school places.
Deputy Kenny said:
“Families in Dublin 15 have waited long enough. Government established a Taskforce on Special Education in Dublin 15 in October 2024 to examine the serious shortage of appropriate school places for children with additional needs. Parents were told that this work would identify solutions and guide future planning, yet the report that families were promised has still not been published.
“Parents cannot plan their children’s education in the dark. Schools cannot prepare properly without clear direction from the Department. The delay in publishing this report is unacceptable and it only adds to the anxiety already felt by families who are trying to secure a school place for their child.
“Families deserve transparency, proper planning and certainty. The Minister must publish the report now and move quickly to implement a fair and workable system that guarantees every child with additional needs access to an appropriate school place. In addition we need the Autism Class Application Trial rolled out across the country as a centralised application system. A centralised application system for the NCSE is long overdue.”
Cllr John Walsh (Dublin West) called for the long delayed report of the Task Force on Special Education in Dublin 15 to be published immediately:
“There is an ongoing crisis in services, supports and appropriate school places for children with additional needs in Dublin West and it beggars belief that the Taoiseach has just discovered that there is a national shortfall in special class places, when parents in Dublin West have had to fight for places and supports for their children for the last seven years.
“The report of the Task Force on Special Education in Dublin 15 was completed last June but has still not been published by the Department of Education. This report has to be published immediately so that its recommendations can be implemented. Urgent action by Government Ministers is long overdue to meet the needs of vulnerable children.”