Government “sleepwalking into worst-ever special education crisis” TD warns

Finglas parents have expressed doubt that special classes, promised for their children with additional needs, will be ready by September.

Despite assurances from Minister Michael Moynihan that the classes will be ready by September, the project management company has said that construction of the modular classrooms will only begin this week.

The parents, who have children enrolled at Finglas Parochial National School, said they are receiving “conflicting information” on the matter.

Equality in Education Dublin North West said “these classes were meant to be open in September 2025; the fact that children are still waiting in April 2026 is a disgrace.”

“While there are now signs of movement, there is still no firm guarantee that the classes will be ready by September, and that is simply not acceptable,” they said.

They said there is no “good reason” these classrooms cannot be delivered before September. 

“If it becomes clear that this project is drifting off the path to September delivery, parents and campaigners will mobilise. Children in Finglas have already waited far too long,” they said.

The parents’ group, supported by Equality in Education Dublin North West, said they will continue to engage “constructively” but said that families have already been waiting long enough; they said that September must now be the “absolute deadline” for delivery.

In a response from Minister Moynihan’s office, parents were told that manufacture of the modular building will take place off-site in Quarter 2, while site works will happen “in parallel,” with the overall hope that the project will be ready by the new school year.

With Ireland’s planning system being what it is, parents are dubious about whether the deadline will be met.

“These updates fall short of the certainty families need. Crucially, neither confirms that the classes will be ready for September,” the group said.

They noted that the latest information also appears to conflict with recent claims from government party TDs suggesting that construction of the modular units had already begun last week and that on-site works could begin before the summer.

Parents and Equality in Education Dublin North West say these “mixed messages” are “deeply worrying” and raise serious questions about the timeline for delivery.

“The classes were sanctioned in April 2025 and were due to open in September 2025. Instead, children have been left for months in a community hall on reduced hours, without the proper classrooms and school experience they should already have had,” they said.

They added that “any further delay would mean continued educational loss for children who are already being denied the education they deserve, while also placing huge strain on families.”

Parents have had to reduce working hours or work part-time because of their children’s reduced timetables, while siblings and their wider families are also affected by the disruption and uncertainty.

The group that said the eschool has “pulled out all the stops” to ensure that children with additional needs can continue to receive education, but the government are failing them.

Rebekah Clarke said, “there may now be signs of movement, but families still do not have the certainty we need; these classes should have been open last September.”

“Instead, children have been left for months in a community hall on reduced hours, without the education and stability they deserve. If this is delayed any further, the impact on children like my son Arlo will be enormous, but it will also hit whole families who are already under huge pressure.”

Clarke said, “parents need a clear guarantee that these classes will be delivered by September, and if it looks like that is slipping, we will have to mobilise again.”

Farther west in Dublin, Sinn Féin TD Paul Donnelly said that the government is “sleepwalking” into the worst-ever crisis in special education this September.

Donnelly said that the current approach from the government is not working, and that a “new and fairer approach” is needed.

The Dublin West TD said the government’s handling of special education needs has become an “annual cycle of prolonged dread, anxiety and disappointment for families.”

He said that the state is “systematically” failing children with additional educational needs.

He said that his office is contacted by parents who cannot secure an appropriate school place for their child, particularly those with additional needs.

“Parents feel like they have to constantly fight the system to secure what should be a fundamental right,” he noted.

Donnelly noted there is a “chronic” shortage of appropriate school places; Donnelly’s comments come in the same week that local Fianna Fáil Minister Jack Chambers touted that Ireland has a €9 billion surplus.

Repeated budget surpluses, with a Dublin West TD at the heart of it, do not manifest themselves on the ground, Donnely noted.

“Children are being forced to travel long distances, while others have no choice but to stay at home due to the lack of an appropriate place for them, a flagrant breach of their constitutional rights,” he said.

“Despite a longer run-in time this year to facilitate planning, we are heading into another calamitous situation; we appear to be in no better position, with potentially hundreds without an appropriate school place this September”

He said that the current situation is “dire” and is “further proof that the government is out of touch with reality and asleep at the wheel.”

Speaking in the Dáil on Thursday, Donnelly pointed to issues in his constituency.

“Hansfield Educate Together National School is telling us it will not be able to support children with additional needs due to the lack of SNA allocation for this September, forcing it to reduce timetables for students with additional needs.”

“One school in Dublin West has been awarded DEIS plus status, but there is none in Corduff, Blakestown or Mountview. At least 19 children with additional needs have no post-primary school place for September. The Minister’s task force on special education, set up in October 2024, has still not published its recommendations; why?”

Donnelly noted that children have been waiting six years for an assessment of need for children with additional needs in Blakestown CDNT.

“School completion programmes tackling disadvantage in the Mountview, Blakestown and Ongar areas are operating with no increased funding and have been asked to support a school population that has increased by over 1,000 children,” and he said that “deaf children get supports, or not, due to a postcode lottery.”

Tánaiste Simon Harris has attempted – with limited success – to tackle the crisis in special education since becoming leader of Fine Gael, with the area becoming free ammunition for critics of the government.

Responding to Donnelly’s charges, Harris said, “I am very proud to be a member of the government that has introduced the DEIS plus programme. For the first time ever in the history of the State, we now have DEIS plus and I thank the Minister, Deputy Naughton, for her work on that.”

“The Deputy and I have discussed this before. It is a start. The schools have been chosen on the basis of need, with criteria that are above and beyond politics in terms of trying to identify those most in need. That is not to say we do not wish to see DEIS plus expanded or rolled out further. Of course we do.”