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.

Schools are being asked to volunteer to test a new way of allocating teachers for pupils with special needs.

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.

Only 21 more resource teachers can be appointed to schools between now and June to work with children with disabilities.

A new way to give schools extra staff to support children with disabilities should not preclude the Government from giving those pupils full rights to adequate education, a parents’ group told TDs and senators.

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.

Funding is needed to ensure additional resources for assistance in ensuring special needs children have adequate support in pre-schools, writes Lorraine Dempsey

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.

The Central Remedial Clinic must provide “forensic” details for how “every cent” of the Santa Bear appeal is spent if it wants to protect the vital fundraising campaign from the unrelated top-ups controversy.

All parents of children who use the services of the Central Remedial Clinic want the board to resign, it has been claimed.

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.

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 and women’s rights advocates have welcomed indications that further cuts to universal child benefit payments will not be proposed for Budget 2014.

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.

Parents of children with special needs hope to bring towns and cities to a standstill amid growing anger over cuts to extra teaching that Education Minister Ruairi Quinn denies will take place.

Parents, principals, and teacher unions have slammed the latest cuts to special needs resources claiming the Government is directly targeting the most vulnerable children.

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

Teaching unions and parents’ groups have hit out at a 5% cut in resource teaching hours.

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

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