Children with special needs to benefit from 118 new classes

Today  I welcomed the announcement that 118 new classes are to be added to schools across the country this month for children with special needs.

This announcement by the NCSE goes hand in hand with Minister Ruairi Quinn's publication of proposed legislation to deal with the inequalities in the admissions process in schools, specifically for children with special needs. As the Labour Seanad Spokesperson for Education and a member of the Oireachtas Education Committee, I am constantly engaging with numerous experts on the issue of special needs education, and the general consensus is that equality and mainstreaming for special needs children must be supported with the appropriate educational infrastructure. This is why I am delighted to welcome this announcement by the NCSE.

“The 118 new classes announced will be added to 113 mainstream primary and post primary schools across the country. The addition of these special classes means that over 5,000 children will have the opportunity to attend a special class within a mainstream school.

I hope to see this number and the level of support for children with special educational needs increase over time and I will continue to work with Minister Ruairi Quinn on the issues of disability, special needs education and equality to this end. In the meantime, I look forward to discussing how we can better improve our schools for special needs children with members of the Down Syndrome Education Equality Advocates group at Wednesday's Education Committee.