We are calling for a complete and immediate reversal of the recently announced changes to the process of Special Education Teacher (SET) allocation to Primary schools across Ireland as set out in Circular 0002/2024. 

The National Principals’ Forum have expressed concern about what this will mean in our primary schools. Inclusion Ireland and Down Syndrome Ireland are among the countless bodies requesting that this move be reversed with immediate effect. Most people, parents and school staff alike, are utterly confused by the proposal and the shocking way in which it was announced. 

Removing access to Special Education Teacher supports from children with complex needs is discriminatory, regressive, inequitable and unjust. It pits families and their loved one with greater needs against their fellow pupils in classrooms around the country and places school principals in an impossible position. 

How are schools supposed to provide for the education of pupils with greater needs going forward? There was no consultation prior to the announcement and it appears that there are no alternative arrangements being made to facilitate this sizeable group of children who are just as entitled to their education as their typically developing peers and classmates.

We call on the various Ministers - Foley, O’Gorman, Madigan and Rabbitte, on the Taoiseach and the Tánaiste to end this apparent campaign to dilute the fundamental right of all children to an education. Implementation of these changes will see the right to an education of children with complex needs effectively eradicated.

We acknowledge the ongoing need for reform and call on the Department of Education to engage in appropriate reforms based in the principles of equity and fairness and to do so in consultation with the Irish National Teachers’ Organisation (INTO), other teacher representative bodies and with the various partners in education to improve the school lives of all children. 

Please sign the petition and lend your support to our campaign to restore these vital educational supports to our most vulnerable children and their peers. Failure to do so will dilute the educational achievements of all our children. We simply cannot allow that to happen.