Up to 100 children with speech and language difficulties who were attending pre-schools may be without a place in September after the organisation which runs the classes today announced it had gone into liquidation.
Early Language Intervention (ELI), which runs four pre-schools in Dublin and one in Galway, said it was unable to pay its 30 staff last Friday and had been forced to let them go.
The privately-run organisation, which was established in 2001 to meet the growing demand for language therapy in Ireland, ran pre-schools for children up to the age of six with speech and language delay.
It also ran several after-school classes for older children with social and communication difficulties.
The schools taught children with a range of conditions from Autistic Spectrum Disorder to Down Syndrome but also those with only speech and language problems.
Some of the parents with children in the centres were in receipt of the Home Tuition Grant from the Department of Education, which funds the sourcing of a special needs teacher for their child.
But ELI clincial director Deirdre Muldoon said the schools' teachers had been paid at the incorrect rate since 2004 and this position had only recently been corrected.
Ms Muldoon said the shortfall owed to the ELI amounted to €250,000 but the Department of Education had ruled that only the parents could access the money.
She said while some of the parents had passed on the new rate others had not and as a result the schools were out of pocket.
She said the present crisis has also been brought by the establishment of a pre-school in Galway which failed initially to attract the numbers required and had become a drain on resources.
Ms Muldoon said the current Health Service Executive waiting list for speech and language therapy for children was up to 24 months in some parts of the country and ELI services had been enabling many children to bypass this and enter mainstream education.
A HSE spokeswoman said it was currently recruiting speech and language therapists which it hoped would have a significant impact on waiting lists which she conceded were "particularly challenging in certain areas".
She said: "All services for children under five with developmental delay are provided for under the Disability Act. This entitles every child to a comprehensive needs assessment that outlines the support services they require".
In relation to the ELI's closure, she said: "It would clearly be inappropriate to fund a private fee paying organisation that will determine and prioritise their own client list".
A statement by the Department of Education said the home tuition scheme has been extended in recent years to facilitate tuition for children awaiting an educational placement and provide early education intervention for pre-school children with autism.
"Parents engage tutors directly and the grant is paid to the parent on receipt of appropriate certification. The parent is responsible for payment to their selected tutor," the statement said.
"This affords a degree of flexibility and choice for parents in selecting the most suitable tutor for the purposes of home tuition for their children."
