A total of 126 children with special needs are without a school place this September, according to Department of Education figures.
The details are contained in a report from the Ombudsman for Children report which highlights the “unacceptable” situation faced by vulnerable children and their families in securing appropriate school places close to their homes.
“There is still no comprehensive and coherent plan to ensure that every child with special educational needs has a school place locally in a timely manner,” the report says. “We are also concerned about insufficient data for both the planning for, and monitoring of, the quality of these school places.”
The report, Plan for Places, Two Years On, examines whether progress has been made on recommendations made in the ombudsman’s previous report on forward planning for the provision of school places for children with special needs.
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The report welcomes “several notable improvements” since the initial publication, including the enactment of legislation, new policy advice and the recent establishment of a Cabinet committee on children, education and disability.
However, it highlights a range of ongoing concerns including lack of data for both the planning for, and monitoring of, the quality of school places.
Charlotte Cahill has has been unable to find a place for her daughter Cyra (5) who has special needs.
“We’ve applied to 32 schools and have been refused by them all or put on waiting lists,” she told The Irish Times recently. “As things stand, she’ll have to go back to do a third year of preschool while other children progress to primary.”
Ombudsman for Children Dr Niall Muldoon said: “We are still seeing a scramble every year from June to September every year to find school places for children with special educational needs – particularly at second level – who have not been accounted for in the official forecasting. This is putting a huge amount of stress and strain on their families.”
He said the while progress has been made since its original report, “we are still not where we need to be, particularly when it comes to engaging with children with special educational needs and their families and including them in decisions that impact them.”
He added: “It is critical that we have the right data to enable sufficient forward planning for school places, but it is equally important to track the suitability and quality of the individual’s child journey through the school system.”
While there are assurances from the department that every child with special needs known to them will have a school place, he said “we also need to be confident that that place is appropriate for the child and is in their local area”.
“We know for example, that in the 2023-24 school year 19,800 children with special educational needs had to use the school transport scheme to get to school, an increase of over 2,000 children since our last report was published,” he said.
Dr Muldoon also noted an increase in the number of children accessing the home tuition grant scheme last year due to the lack of appropriate school places, rising from 69 to 135 on the previous school year.
He said it is vitally important that there is a demonstrated progression in a move toward a “fully inclusive education system”.
Dr Muldoon said this was something that Ireland was pulled up on by two UN Committees in their examinations of the State since our original report in recent times.
The department has sad that it is determined to ensure “every child has a school place”, while the National Council for Special Education has said it is working to ensure all children and young people are accommodated in the new school year.
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