Over 100 children with special educational needs were without a school at the start of this term, with some parents saying their children have been locked out of education for years.

Over the weekend, a group of parents of children without suitable placements staged a 24-hour sleep out at the Department of Education to bring light to the issue.

Parent Charlotte Cahill told Newstalk Breakfast on Friday that a 2024 promise from former Minister Norma Foley is yet to be fulfilled.

“I was guaranteed that every child that was known to the NCSE (National Council for Special Education) would have an appropriate school come September 2024,” she said.

“A lot of the children that were part of that cohort have still not been schooled.”

Education editor with the Irish Times Carl O'Brien told the show there are three main factors at the root of this issue.

“Probably the biggest one of all is poor planning and lack of communication,” he said.

“You have this situation where schools are finding out about the demand for places among children with special needs too late in the day.

“Then you have this last-minute scramble to find special classes and special teachers.

“All of that takes time, much longer than a mainstream school place.”

Increasing autism diagnoses

Mr O’Brien said that while these children are known to the health and education authorities in advance, a lack of communication means schools are still taken by surprise.

“The other thing is we are seeing a big increase in autism diagnoses and other conditions among children,” he said.

“We’re seeing that over a long period of time but it’s continuing and it’s particularly accelerating in more recent years.

“For example, last year about 2.7% of all students would have had a diagnosis, which meant they’re in a special school or needed a special class.

“That’s projected to increase to 5% by the end of the decade, so it’s almost a doubling.”

Primary school children reading in a classroom in the UK.

According to Mr O’Brien, this does not reflect an increase of autism among the population but is rather a result of more “sophisticated diagnoses” and increased awareness.

“The third one is probably culture among schools,” he said.

“There’s a lot of schools that don’t have experience of special classes or students with complex needs – they're very apprehensive.”

Under resourcing

Mr O’Brien said this fear has arisen due to historic under resourcing in schools, leading principals to believe they cannot meet these children’s needs.

Neither the Government nor the Department of Education has legal powers available to compel a school to open special education classes.

According to Mr O’Brien, the NCSE has also been “woefully understaffed for many, many years”; although funding announced in Budget 2023 saw an increase of over 50% in overall staffing levels for the Council.

“We also need a new system, which they’re talking about, which is a common application system,” Mr O’Brien said.

He said this would save parents like Ms Cahill wasting time applying to multiple individual schools.

Listen back here:

Main image: School bags hanging on the fence as a protest over a lack of school places for autistic children at the Department of Education on Marlborough Street in Dublin. Photo: Justin Farrelly./© RollingNews.ie. 01/03/ 2025.