Parents of people in care have pleaded for the HSE to come clean on all internal reviews and reports carried out into residential, respite, and foster care settings in the wake of the latest concerns raised in leaked documents.

The HSE has been investigating two serious claims of physical abuse against adults and foster children with intellectual disabilities in the south-east since 2012 — but has failed to publish any reports on the matter.

Justice Minister Frances Fitzgerald has opened up the possibility of criminal action in response to the Áras Attracta scandal after it emerged that a 12th worker at the home has been suspended over abuse claims.

The Department of Children and Youth Affairs has no record of how many pupils with disabilities take up options to extend or delay their use of Government-funded pre-schooling.

A growing number of parents whose children are being denied educational supports are considering taking legal action against the department.

The Special Needs Parents Association is critical of the timing of the announcement of 260 extra SNA posts for the upcoming school year.

Parents and teachers want to meet Education Minister Ruairi Quinn over concerns about how special needs assistants (SNAs) are allocated to pupils with care needs.

Large sections of the country have no early intervention teams to help children with serious disabilities — risking potential havoc for their development.

Furious CRC families have insisted axed chief executive Paul Kiely must hand back all charity money diverted to pay his lucrative pension packet.

Parents “disgusted” at the deepening CRC crisis have challenged the group’s disgraced former board to explain their actions to people dependent on the service.

If you ever doubted that the best of things comes in pairs, perhaps Darryl and Declan Barry will make you think again.

Disability service campaigners have branded the deepening Central Remedial Clinic top-ups scandal as “disgusting” and said the crisis has the potential to “cripple” the charity sector.

The term ‘hypocrisy’ comes instantly to mind as bodies representing children with disabilities are excluded from a key Government working group that will propose changes in how extra teachers and care staff will be allocated for them at our schools.

The National Council for Special Education has been criticised for excluding disability organisations from a group planning changes to how special needs teachers are allocated to schools.

Parents of children with disabilities are being forced to pay for private assessments to avoid long waits for extra school supports, a parents’ organisation has claimed.

Up to 118 new special needs classes are to be established in schools around the country this month, according to the National Council for Special Education.

Parents of children with special needs are demanding that the Education Minister Ruairi Quinn increase the number of Special Needs Assistants to cope with increased demand from schools.

The Government has been forced into an embarrassing U-turn over cuts to special needs following a backlash from parents and teachers.

Ruairi Quinn paraded out of Government Buildings flanked with Labour backbenchers to announce Cabinet approval to keep resource teaching for children with disabilities at current levels in the autumn.

Hundreds of children with intellectual disabilities have been told that vital respite care services are no longer available due to deepening HSE cutbacks.

Parents and teachers from across the country have been urged to join a national demonstration against special needs cuts.

ABOUT 800 people protested outside Leinster House against cuts in special needs assistants’ (SNAs) numbers yesterday.

Protestors will gather in Cork today to demonstrate their anger at proposed cuts to Special Needs Assistants in schools.

ANGRY special needs assistants (SNAs) and parents of children with special needs in Cork have promised a “summer of discontent”.

A cut in the level of teaching supports for special needs children is under fire from parents and teachers.

GRACE Kearney was mixing well with her fellow pupils at her local primary school until her special needs support was cut to one-sixth its previous levels and she had to move schools.