IPPN

Statement by John Carr, General Secretary,
Irish National Teachers' Organisation, on Special Needs Education

8 May, 2005

INTO welcomes significant increase in resources for special needs pupils

The Irish National Teachers' Organisation warmly welcomes the announcement by Ms Mary Hanafin, Minister for Education and Science of significantly increased resources for children with special needs. This is a substantial investment in the education system, providing a vital service for those children most in need. It demonstrates clearly the commitment of the Minister for Education and Science to increased fairness in the education system by targeting increased resources where they are needed. For this, Minister Hanafin deserves great credit.

The INTO told the Department of Education and Science in February 2004 that a thousand extra teachers were needed to provide for special education in mainstream primary schools. A year ago 350 posts were announced by the former Minister for Education and Science. Soon after coming into office Minister Hanafin expressed concerns about children losing resources and ordered a review of special needs provision. The INTO was consulted at all stages of the review which has been completed within six months.

As a result an extra 650 teachers are to be provided bringing the total in the area of special education to nearly twelve hundred extra teachers. This is made up of 350 teachers announced last April, an additional 173 that were put into the system earlier this school year and today's announcement of 650 extra teachers.

This is a major investment by the government in the social fabric of the state. It provides the resources to enable special needs children not just to attend but to make real progress in school. In this way the Minister for Finance has built on his budget strategy to provide increased resources for persons with disability. It is a progressive and forward thinking development that provides for increased equality of opportunity. It is the biggest annual investment by the state in special needs education to date. Today is a good day for government and a good day for special needs children and their families.

This announcement for the first time provides a vital framework for the allocation of resources to schools. The new framework also has the potential to substantially reduce the bureaucracy associated with accessing resources and should therefore reduce the administrative burden on school principals. It provides real back up to the Education for Persons with Special Needs Act and the recently established National Special Education Council.