Disability Minister Anne Rabbitte ‘extremely frustrated’ with HSE delay in rolling out early assessment hubs
Disability Minister Anne Rabbitte has said she is “extremely frustrated” by ongoing delays in the HSE to provide early assessments for children with special needs. Ms Rabbitte indicated in the Dáil earlier today that the Government would consider reimbursing parents...
State could fund private special needs assessments for children
The Government has given a commitment to examine funding of private assessments for children with special needs who are waiting to be seen by specialists. Taoiseach Leo Varadkar said that he has no ideological issue with the move as the State already uses private...
Minister Harris officially opens new ASD Centre at Moneystown NS
Minister Simon Harris paid a visit to Moneystown NS on Thursday night to officially cut the ribbon on their new Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) Centre. Speaking after the event, Minister Harris said: “It was an honour to be able to cut the ribbon tonight for Moneystown...
Two new special schools to be established in Cork and Dublin
Two special schools are to be established along with hundreds of additional special classes in mainstream schools in response to the rising level of need among vulnerable children. One school is to open in Carrigtwohill, Co Cork and the other in Dublin 7 for the...
Ministers Foley and Madigan announce two new special schools as part of forward planning for 2023/24
Minister for Education Norma Foley and Minister of State with responsibility for Special Education and Inclusion Josepha Madigan have today (12 April) announced the establishment of two new special schools as part of a comprehensive update on enhanced education...
Minister Foley announces €29 million in minor works funding for primary and special schools
Minister for Education Norma Foley has today (11 April 2023) announced €29 million in minor works funding for primary and special schools. Schools will have the autonomy to use this funding for maintenance and small-scale improvements to school buildings and grounds....
Ministers Foley and Madigan confirm delivery of 58 school building projects that were temporarily paused
Minister for Education Norma Foley today (Wednesday 5 April) confirmed an agreement has been secured to guarantee and support the rollout and continuation of the department’s ambitious school building programme. This will facilitate the continued rollout of urgently...
New report provides damning snapshot of Autistic life in Ireland
AsIAm, Ireland’s National Autism Charity, has today launched a new report providing unique insights from the autistic community in Ireland. The report provides a summary of insights from 1,600 autistic people, parents, family members and carers. It covers a range of...
Children with autism to be asked about experiences of school in landmark study
Autistic children are to be asked to give their own accounts of their experiences of school, in a landmark study. The ground-breaking research aims to hear directly from pupils with autism about what makes schools inclusive and what changes they would like to see....