Publish taskforce’s report on special education needs in Dublin 15, local councillors tell department

Councillors in Dublin 15 have called on the Department of Education to publish right away a long-awaited report on special education needs in the area.

The Taskforce on Special Education in Dublin 15 finished its work last June, said John Walsh, a Labour Party councillor.

Yet still, its final report hasn’t been published.

“The Department of Education, which claims that, you know, it deals with everything to do with special education with greater urgency, is sitting on a key report on special education in Dublin 15,” he said. “That's not acceptable.”

Other councillors on the Blanchardstown area committee backed a motion from Walsh last Thursday, that called on the council to write to the Minister for Education to request the immediate publication of the report and full implementation of its recommendations.

The Department of Education didn’t respond to a query sent Monday morning asking why it had not published the report, and when it intended to do so.

On 17 February, Fianna Fáil Minister of State Michael Moynihan didn’t give a date when it would be published when asked in the Dáil. “The taskforce’s recommendations are currently being examined,” he said.

What did it do?

The Taskforce on Special Education in Dublin 15 was set up in October 2024  by the central government. The report should be out by now, Walsh said at the meeting.

It was set up to support forward planning of special education provision in the area.

Parents and educators had pressed for it, he said. “Particularly the Autism [School] Dublin 15 group, which has been very active in highlighting the crisis in special education in Dublin 15.”

Walsh said recent data on autism class placements highlights the scale of the shortage locally.

Local primary schools, in partnership with the National Council for Special Education, have been running the Autism Class Application Trial (ACAT), a system designed, among other things, to reduce the administrative burden on parents applying for places and to allow greater forward planning of need.

Thirteen schools got involved in the first year, said Walsh. “Twenty-four autism class places were offered in the first year, 105 applications were received,” 

Seventeen schools were involved in the second year, he said, and sixteen places were offered through the ACAT process. But there were 101 eligible applications, he said.

Children can end up taking places not best suited to them simply because no other options exist, he said.

“Some of them might end up being admitted to a special class because they've nowhere else to go,” he says, when actually they are eligible and are better suited for a place in a special school.  

That, of course, means that they are unavoidably taking up a placement in a special class, which could be available for somebody more suitable, he said.

The area has a continuing crisis in special education, he said. “It's an ongoing scandal. It's a crisis that impacts on the most vulnerable children in our society.”

Other councillors spoke in support of the motion.

The taskforce itself had been created after strong public pressure from parents, said Solidarity Party Councillor John Burtchaell.

Education for people with special needs was a big issue before the last election, he said.

“Parents had to take to the streets with large posters printed up of their children, and that's why the taskforce was set up,” Burtchaell said. 

“And once the election was over, of course, the priority dropped. And it's disgraceful that we're still awaiting, waiting for the report.”

He said shortages of appropriate school places remain a major issue locally.

“There's a huge problem with appropriate primary school places in Dublin 15, as we all know, this is now translating into secondary school places,” he said.

Sinn Féin Councillor Angela Donnelly said that parents on the taskforce were volunteers. “Parents from Dublin 15 gave up their very precious time to sit on this taskforce.”

“The fact that a motion is having to be put forward, and the fact that TDs are having to bring it up in the Dáil to just look for the report that was agreed to be made public and implemented is absolutely scandalous,” she said.

Aontú Councillor Ellen Troy said, the challenges facing families with children with additional needs get compounded, by other gaps in the system.

“The fact that the Department of Education does not have a central record of available special school places for children with additional needs is just enough said,” she said. “It's unbelievable. The government should be ashamed of themselves.”

Walsh said Dublin 15 needs to keep pushing. “Dublin 15 is in the eye of the storm in terms of the crisis in special education,” he said.

Funded by the Local Democracy Reporting Scheme.