Education Committee to discuss special needs education with National Council for Special Education

Representatives from the National Council for Special Education (NCSE) will attend the meeting of the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Education and Skills tomorrow, Wednesday 16 December, to discuss special needs education.

Among those attending the meeting are:

Pat Curtin, Chief Executive
Sydney Blain, Chairman
Sé Goulding, Head of Operations
Jennifer Doran, Head of Research
Mary Byrne, Special Education Adviser

Deputy Mary Wallace, Chair of the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Education and Skills said: “The NCSE was set up to improve the delivery of education services to persons with special educational needs arising from disabilities with particular emphasis on children. A key aim of the Council is to progressively improve the co-ordination between the education and health sectors in providing the supports for children with special educational needs.

All sectors in society are under financial pressure in the current difficult economic climate. However, it is important that the advances made in relation to special education provision over the past decade are maintained and protected as much as possible. It is important that resources in this area are used as efficiently and effectively as possible to meet the requirements of children with special needs.

Our meeting tomorrow with the NCSE will provide it with an opportunity to outline in detail its work to date in providing timely and efficient service to schools, devising policy for providing special needs and its work programme for the future. It will also allow members of the committee to raise any issues or concerns they may have on special needs education.

This Committee is currently assessing the provision of special needs education and has sought submissions from interested parties. To date we have received written submissions from the Disability Federation of Ireland, the National Disability Authority and the Special Needs Parents Association and these submissions will help to inform our investigation.”

This meeting will take place in Committee Room 2, Leinster House at 10am tomorrow, Thursday, 16 December.

This Committee can be viewed on-line

For further information please contact:

Ciaran Brennan,
Houses of the Oireachtas,
Communications Unit,
Leinster House,
Dublin 2

P: +3531 618 3903
M: 086-0496518
F: +3531 618 4551
E: ciaran.brennan@oireachtas.ie