Special Class Allocations & Inclusion Policy

The Special Education Review Committee, chaired by Pádraig Ó Tuama, reported to Minister for Education Niamh Bhreathnach in 1993, providing the first comprehensive Irish review of special education and recommending a continuum of provision from full mainstream inclusion through dedicated special schools. The SERC report is the conceptual root of subsequent statutory frameworks (the Education Act 1998 and EPSEN 2004) and is regularly cited as the historical baseline for current policy.

The Education Act 1998 provided the first comprehensive statutory framework for the Irish education system, including duties on schools and the Minister in respect of students with special educational needs. Section 7 sets out the functions of the Minister; sections relevant to special education were subsequently expanded by the Education (Admission to Schools) Act 2018, which inserted Section 37A enabling the Minister to direct a school to make additional special class provision.

In Sinnott v Minister for Education [2001] IESC 63; [2001] 2 IR 545 the Supreme Court overturned the High Court's award and held that the State's constitutional obligation under Article 42.4 to provide for free primary education ends at age 18 and does not extend to lifelong educational provision for adults with profound learning disability. The judgment is the leading authority on the limits of the constitutional right to education and is repeatedly cited in subsequent debate on the scope of EPSEN entitlements.

The National Council for Special Education was established by Ministerial Order in December 2003, on an administrative basis pending statutory underpinning by the EPSEN Act 2004. Its remit is to plan, coordinate and advise on the provision of education services for students with special educational needs, including the sanctioning of special classes in mainstream schools.

The EPSEN Act 2004 was enacted on 19 July 2004 and gave statutory underpinning to the NCSE and to a framework of individual education planning. Eighteen sections of the Act remain non-commenced as of 2025/26, including provisions that would have conferred statutory entitlements to assessment, individual education plans (IEPs), mediation and appeal. AsIAm, Inclusion Ireland and the Ombudsman for Children have repeatedly cited the non-commencement of these sections as a foundational gap.

The Disability Act 2005 introduced a statutory assessment-of-need process for children with disabilities under Part 2, operated by the HSE. Although not itself an education statute, it interlocks with EPSEN — the HSE assessment of need is the principal entry-point through which children acquire the professional reports that NCSE relies on for special class admission. The system has been repeatedly the subject of court challenges over delays.

Ireland signed the UNCRPD on 30 March 2007, the day the Convention opened for signature. Article 24 of the Convention provides that States Parties shall ensure an inclusive education system at all levels and lifelong learning. Ratification did not follow until March 2018, and the Optional Protocol was acceded to in October 2024.

Department of Education and Skills Circulars 0013/2017 (primary) and 0014/2017 (post-primary) introduced a new Special Education Teaching (SET) allocation model from September 2017. The model replaced the previous General Allocation Model (GAM/EAL) and the NCSE allocation process with a single combined SET allocation per school, profiled by complex-needs enrolment, standardised test results, and a social-context measure (disadvantage and gender). The model was subsequently revised in 2019 (Circulars 0007/2019 and 0008/2019) and again in 2024 (Circular 0002/2024).

The Education (Admission to Schools) Act 2018 was signed into law on 18 July 2018. Section 8 of the Act inserted Section 37A into the Education Act 1998, empowering the Minister for Education, on receipt of an NCSE notice, to direct a school to make additional provision for children with special educational needs where the NCSE is satisfied that there is insufficient provision in an area and reasonable efforts to secure voluntary provision have failed. The provision converted a longstanding administrative gap into a coercive ministerial power.

Ireland deposited its instrument of ratification of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities with the UN Secretary-General on 20 March 2018, almost eleven years after signature. Article 24 obliges States Parties to ensure inclusive education at all levels, with reasonable accommodation and individualised support measures provided in environments that maximise academic and social development.

The Minister for Education first used the Section 37A power in late 2019 in respect of the Dublin 15 area, where the NCSE had identified a shortage of special class places and a number of schools had declined to open ASD classes voluntarily. The use of the power was confirmed in subsequent Oireachtas parliamentary answers and was followed by a further invocation in the south Dublin area in 2020 for primary provision.

The NCSE published its policy advice paper on Special Schools and Classes in 2019, recommending a continuum-of-provision model anchored on mainstream placement with special class and special school placements as part of a single integrated system. The paper informed subsequent forward-planning circulars and the 2024 'An Inclusive Education for an Inclusive Society' policy advice.

Minister for Education Norma Foley re-invoked the Section 37A power in 2022 in respect of named schools in Cork city and Dublin, where the NCSE had identified continuing capacity shortfalls. The invocations attracted significant media attention and were criticised by school management bodies as a symptom of the Department's failure to forward-plan capital and staffing provision. Exact dates of individual ministerial directions vary; the 2022 round is documented in Department circulars and contemporaneous press coverage.

The NCSE published Policy Advice Paper No. 7 'An Inclusive Education for an Inclusive Society' in January 2024 (placed on the NCSE site May 2024), recommending a long-term move toward an inclusive education system aligned with UNCRPD Article 24. The paper called for legislative reform of EPSEN, a strengthened continuum of provision, and significant additional teacher professional learning. The paper is the principal policy-design reference for the 'Inclusive Special Class' model subsequently piloted for 2026/27.

The NCSE published a revised edition of its Guidelines for Setting Up and Organising Special Classes in February 2024, setting out how boards of management and school leaders should operate special classes as part of a continuum of educational provision. The 2024 Guidelines do not include a separate framework for an 'Autism Inclusion Class' or 'Inclusive Special Class' model — that hybrid was first launched as a five-school post-primary pilot in April 2026.

Minister for Education Norma Foley TD and Minister of State for Special Education Hildegarde Naughton TD announced on 18 October 2024 plans to establish five new special schools for the 2025/26 school year, in Cork (North City), Dublin (Lucan and North Dublin), Monaghan (Castleblayney) and Tipperary (Nenagh). The announcement was made in the context of an existing network of 124 NCSE-supported special schools and a Budget 2025 envelope of €2.9 billion for special education.

The NCSE published the first version of the 'Special Classes in Primary and Post Primary Schools — Academic Year 25/26' list on 27 February 2025, naming sanctioned schools by county and class type. Successive updated versions were published on 10 March 2025 and 16 April 2025 as further sanctions were added. The lists do not name individual pupils and do not list per-school teacher/SNA allocations — those are issued separately by the Department.

Minister for Education Helen McEntee TD and Minister of State for Special Education and Inclusion Michael Moynihan TD announced on 11 April 2025 the sanction of 399 new special classes for the 2025/26 school year (287 primary, 112 post-primary), creating approximately 2,700 new places and unlocking a further 1,200 places through natural movement — a stated total of approximately 4,000 available places, the majority for children with autism. The NCSE published an updated school-level list on 16 April 2025.

On 15 May 2025 the Minister of State for Special Education Michael Moynihan and Minister for Education Helen McEntee replied to written parliamentary questions from Shónagh Ní Raghallaigh TD (Sinn Féin), Louis O'Hara TD (Sinn Féin) and Cian O'Callaghan TD (Social Democrats) confirming that the school system would have over 20,800 Special Education Teachers and 23,400 Special Needs Assistants by year-end — over 44,000 SET and SNA posts combined across mainstream, special class and special school provision. The replies did not provide a per-school allocation breakdown.

The Department of Education and Youth issued its Special Needs Assistant Allocation circular for the 2025/26 school year on 27 May 2025, approximately five weeks before the end of the school term. The INTO published the circular to members the same day. The late issue of SNA and Special Education Teacher allocations leaves schools unable to recruit ahead of the summer break, given that teaching vacancies must be advertised, interviewed and offered to candidates who themselves typically have notice obligations to existing employers.

The Department of Education and Youth published Circular 0039/2025 on the approach and key measures to support forward planning for special education provision for the 2026/27 school year and beyond, including a request to parents to notify the NCSE by 1 October 2025 of a child's need for a special class place. The stated aim was to enable the majority of 2026/27 sanctions to issue by 31 December 2025 — directly addressing the recruitment-timing critique raised by principals in May 2025.

The Department of Education published the findings of its review of the EPSEN Act 2004 on 25 June 2025, four years after the review was commenced by Minister Josepha Madigan in 2021. The review made 51 recommendations across a twin-track of immediate operational measures and longer-term legislative reform. AsIAm welcomed the review but criticised the slow pace of commencement of the eighteen still-non-commenced sections of the original 2004 Act, calling for statutory Student Support Plans and independent mediation 'within the current government's term' rather than years out.

Minister for Education and Youth Helen McEntee announced on 3 November 2025 a set of actions to strengthen inclusive education for autistic pupils, alongside publication of the Department's Inspectorate report 'Special Classes for Autistic Pupils in Primary Schools: Towards a coherent, inclusive system'. The report recommended expanded opportunities for autistic pupils to learn alongside peers, a broader curriculum, and a whole-of-system approach to initial teacher education and ongoing teacher professional learning in autism education. The report cited that since 2020 the number of autism special classes had almost doubled.

Minister for Education and Youth Hildegarde Naughton and Minister of State Michael Moynihan announced on 15 April 2026 the launch of a new 'Inclusive Special Class' model at five post-primary schools (Clonakilty Community College, St Mary's CBS Laois, Limerick City East Secondary School, St Brendan's Community School Offaly, Coláiste Éamonn Rís Wexford) for the 2026/27 school year, alongside a further 40 conventional new special classes. The Inclusive Special Class is staffed at one full-time (or 1.5) teacher plus two SNAs and provides specialised support during part of the school day while students attend mainstream classes for the remainder, with a €30,000 start-up grant. The launch is the formal departmental introduction of the model whose absence of circular and guidelines principals had flagged in May 2025; AsIAm responded with caution, stating that 'all autism classes in the system should be inclusive'.

On 25 May 2026 principals discussed the cumulative special class list publicly on social media, raising operational concerns about how a recent NCSE publication had reached a cumulative figure of 546 sanctioned classes — reportedly 494 autism (regular), 47 classes under an 'Autism Inclusion' label, 1 Moderate General Learning Disability, 1 Mild GLD, 1 Multiple Disabilities, 1 Developmental Language Disorder and 1 Autism Early Intervention. Principals are raising concerns that: (i) the school-level list of sanctions was published without the corresponding teaching and SNA allocations, leaving schools unable to recruit ahead of the summer break; (ii) the 'Autism Inclusion Class' category had been added without an accompanying Departmental circular, NCSE guidelines update, published clinical research base, or prior consultation with the principal representative bodies; (iii) the breakdown is concentrated almost entirely on autism, with only single-class sanctions for the other disability cohorts; and (iv) the inclusion model functions in operational terms as a workaround for a buildings-and-capital shortfall, given that the standard 6:1:2 special class needs physical accommodation many schools do not have. The 546 cumulative figure and the 47-class 'Autism Inclusion' grouping are recorded here from these public statements pending NCSE archival confirmation; the NCSE 'Inclusive Special Class' model was formally introduced as a five-school post-primary pilot for 2026/27 on 15 April 2026.

Principals operating newly-sanctioned special classes have publicly raised concerns that that, while the school-level list of sanctioned classes had been published by the NCSE, the per-school teaching post and SNA allocations had not yet been confirmed by the Department. The 2025/26 SNA Allocation circular issued on 27 May 2025, leaving roughly five weeks of term to advertise, shortlist, interview and offer posts before the summer break. Recruitment for September is then constrained by candidates' contractual notice periods to current employers; principals reported that several schools would open in September 2025 without the full complement of staff sanctioned for them.

Environmental impact assessment not yet published.

The April 2025 ministerial announcement and the cumulative mid-2025 NCSE list are dominated by autism provision; the principals' public reckoning (25 May 2026) of the cumulative 546-class list was 494 autism, 47 'Autism Inclusion', 1 Autism Early Intervention, 1 Moderate General Learning Disability, 1 Mild GLD, 1 Multiple Disabilities and 1 Developmental Language Disorder. This continues a structural pattern: the Department of Education Inspectorate's November 2025 report records that the number of autism special classes had almost doubled since 2020, while provision for moderate/mild GLD, DLD and multiple-disabilities cohorts grew at a far lower rate. Provision is shaped by NCSE class-sanction guidelines (the principal entry-route is an autism diagnosis with a recommending professional report).

Environmental impact assessment not yet published.

Principals raised public concerns on 25 May 2026 that the cumulative list included 47 classes under an 'Autism Inclusion' label — a class category for which no Departmental circular, no NCSE Guidelines for Setting Up and Organising Special Classes update, and no published clinical research or pilot evaluation existed at the time of publication. The NCSE's February 2024 Guidelines do not include the category. The Department of Education and Youth subsequently launched a five-school post-primary 'Inclusive Special Class' pilot for 2026/27 on 15 April 2026 — almost a year after schools began operating under the label.

Environmental impact assessment not yet published.

The standard primary-level special class is configured as 6 pupils : 1 teacher : 2 SNAs in a dedicated classroom. Principals stated on 25 May 2025 that many primary schools sanctioned for new classes do not have a spare full-size room available, and that the 'inclusive' hybrid model functionally allows the Department to record provision against a hub/base/support-teacher footprint rather than a full classroom. The Department's own framing of the 2026/27 Inclusive Special Class pilot states that schools 'receive €30,000 grants for furniture, equipment, and minor building works' rather than for major modular construction. The NCSE's stated 2025/26 prioritisation of 'medium and larger primary schools which have available accommodation' is consistent with the capital-led framing.

Environmental impact assessment not yet published.

Eighteen sections of the EPSEN Act 2004 remain non-commenced more than two decades after enactment, including those that would have conferred a statutory entitlement to educational assessment and to a personal Individual Education Plan (IEP), along with the related appeals and mediation architecture. The Ombudsman for Children, AsIAm and Inclusion Ireland have repeatedly characterised the resulting system as operating on a 'grace and favour' basis. The Department's June 2025 EPSEN Review's 51 recommendations include statutory Student Support Plans and independent mediation but signal a multi-year implementation horizon.

Environmental impact assessment not yet published.

The Ombudsman for Children's 2024 progress update 'Two Years On — A Plan for Places' documented children entering successive school years without a confirmed appropriate placement; the same pattern has been reported by AsIAm, Inclusion Ireland and the Irish Society for Autism in respect of 2025/26. The combination of (i) sanctions issued but allocations late, (ii) cross-region capacity gaps where Section 37A has not been invoked, and (iii) capital shortfalls preventing schools from opening a class on the existing 6:1:2 footprint, produces an annually recurring cohort of children without a placement going into September.

Environmental impact assessment not yet published.

Article 42.4 provides that the State shall provide for free primary education; Article 42A recognises the natural and imprescriptible rights of all children. The Supreme Court in Sinnott v Minister for Education [2001] IESC 63 held that the Article 42.4 right ends at age 18 and is not absolute, but stops short of extinguishing the State's positive duty to provide for primary education for children with disability.

If breached: Constitutional litigation; judicial review of ministerial decisions affecting special education provision.

The Act sets out the functions of the Minister for Education and the duties of boards of management in respect of all students including those with special educational needs. Section 37A (inserted in 2018) confers a ministerial power to direct a school to make additional special education provision where the NCSE is satisfied that there is insufficient provision in an area.

If breached: Judicial review of ministerial action or inaction; statutory complaint procedures under section 28 (handled by the relevant board of management and Education Welfare Service).

The EPSEN Act, where commenced, requires the assessment of children with SEN, the preparation of Individual Education Plans (IEPs), the establishment of a National Council for Special Education with statutory functions, and the provision of mediation and appeals architecture. Eighteen sections remain non-commenced — including the IEP, assessment, mediation and appeals sections — meaning the principal substantive entitlements created by the Act have never operated.

If breached: Where sections are commenced, judicial review and statutory appeal. Non-commencement of remaining sections is not, in itself, a justiciable breach but is a sustained political accountability issue.

Part 2 confers a statutory right on a child with a disability to an assessment of need by the HSE and provides for an associated service statement. The assessment-of-need pathway is the principal route by which children acquire the professional reports that are required under NCSE guidelines for admission to a special class.

If breached: Statutory complaint, appeal to the Disability Appeals Officer, and judicial review (the assessment-of-need regime has been the subject of repeated successful judicial review applications).

Article 24 obliges States Parties to ensure an inclusive education system at all levels and lifelong learning, with reasonable accommodation and individualised support measures provided in environments that maximise academic and social development consistent with the goal of full inclusion. Ireland ratified the Convention on 20 March 2018 and acceded to the Optional Protocol in October 2024, the latter enabling individual communications to the CRPD Committee.

If breached: Treatment in the CRPD Committee's Concluding Observations on the Initial State Report; under the Optional Protocol, individual communications by affected persons.

Empowers the Minister for Education, on receipt of an NCSE notice, to direct a school to make additional special education provision where the NCSE is satisfied that there is insufficient provision in an area and reasonable efforts to secure voluntary provision have failed. The power has been invoked sparingly: first in the Dublin 15 area in 2019, then in south Dublin in 2020, and in Cork and further Dublin schools in 2022.

If breached: Failure to comply with a Ministerial direction is enforceable under the Education Act 1998 governance regime; non-invocation of the power, where capacity gaps persist, is itself a political-accountability issue and has been the subject of multiple parliamentary questions and an Irish Examiner investigation.

Principals raised concerns publicly on 25 May 2026 that the cumulative 2026/27 NCSE list, which they totalled at 546 sanctioned classes, included 47 classes under an 'Autism Inclusion' label — a class category for which they could find no Departmental circular, no NCSE Guidelines update, no published clinical research and no consultation with the principal representative bodies (INTO, IPPN, NABMSE). They argued that the distribution of new provision was not balanced across disability, given single-class sanctions for moderate GLD, mild GLD, DLD and multiple disabilities.

Principals raised concerns publicly on 25 May 2026 that the introduction of an 'inclusion' class model functions in operational terms as a workaround for a capital and accommodation shortfall. The standard primary special class is staffed and configured for 6 pupils, 1 teacher and 2 SNAs in a dedicated full-size classroom; many schools sanctioned for a class do not have such a room available. A hybrid 'inclusion' configuration enables provision to be recorded against a hub/base/support-teacher footprint rather than a dedicated classroom.

In an opening statement to the Joint Committee on Education and Youth on 2 July 2025, IPPN CEO Páiric Clerkin set out a series of system-level concerns including the late issue of staffing and SET/SNA allocations, the inadequacy of NEPS referral capacity, and the leadership-bandwidth crisis (54% of principals and 98% of deputy principals teaching full-time). The opening statement is the IPPN's formal record of the concerns raised informally by principals in late May 2025.

The INTO published guidance to members on staffing and SET allocation circulars on 13 February 2025 and on the SNA Allocation Circular on 27 May 2025, with member-facing advice that the timing of these circulars constrained schools' ability to recruit ahead of the summer break. The INTO's published e-scéal communications are the principal contemporaneous union record of the recruitment-timing concern.

AsIAm welcomed the publication of the Department's EPSEN Act Review on 25 June 2025 but criticised the multi-year horizon for legislative reform, calling for statutory Student Support Plans and independent mediation to be put in place within the current government's term rather than years out. In response to the April 2026 launch of the 'Inclusive Special Class' pilot, AsIAm reiterated that 'all autism classes in the system should be inclusive and promote opportunities for autistic young people to participate in mainstream activities with their peers'.

Inclusion Ireland has campaigned since the mid-2000s for the commencement of the outstanding sections of the EPSEN Act 2004, characterising the current operation of special education as fragmented and dependent on local administrative discretion rather than statutory entitlement. The organisation's submissions to the EPSEN Review and to successive Oireachtas committees set out a list of specific commencement priorities.

The Ombudsman for Children published 'A Plan for Places — Two Year Update' in September 2024 documenting the continuing pattern of children entering successive school years without a confirmed appropriate placement. The Ombudsman previously made a substantive submission to the Review of the EPSEN Act in March 2023.