Fine Gael is to move a private member's motion in the Dail this week condemning the Government's record on education for pupils with learning difficulties.
The motion is being moved by the party's education spokesman, Mr Richard Bruton, and follows a survey by the party which showed that 44 per cent of children with special needs were receiving no additional support in school.
The motion calls for a legal entitlement to be given to parents of children with learning difficulties to get an assessment of their children's needs.
It also calls for a plan to be set up to develop learning support services. The survey showed that 65 per cent of parents had to pay for an assessment of their children because of a lack of funds from the Department of Education.
It also showed 72 per cent of parents were dissatisfied with the information available to them from official sources about their child's needs.
Mr Bruton pointed out that access to remedial teaching was very patchy. For example, in 66 per cent of cases it was for less than two hours a week.
The survey found that 68 per cent of parents favoured their local school as the place where their child could receive assistance.