At least four schools in county Tipperary have been informed that Special Education Classes will not be going ahead in September. Deputy Mattie McGrath raised the issue in the Dáil last night. One of the schools involved, Coláiste Dun Iascaigh in Cahir, had given the TD consent to name the school. The school had been contacted by the National Council for Special Education(NCSE) asking if it was interested and had capacity to have a special class. The school indicated that it wanted to have a class for 6 students with special needs.
It is understood that the NCSE has issued a letter to the school amongst others informing them that as the target of 399 new classes in 2025/ 2026 had been achieved no additional classes will be sanctioned for next year. Deputy MacGrath describes the communication as “cold” and damaging after raising the expectation that a class would be supported. The TD is asking the Government to instruct the NCSE to reverse the decision instead of expecting the school to wait for possible approval next year.
17 new special classes and a new special school in Nenagh with capacity for 12 children have been announced for county Tipperary this year. The next school year will see a total of 155 special classes in the county catering for 900 children. Nationally there are 28,000 children attending special classes across Ireland.
The response in the Dáil was given by Colm Brophy, Minister of State at the Department of Justice – he committed to bring the concerns to the attention of Minister Michael Moynihan who has responsibility for Special Education.
