Fury over Hanafin’s special needs claims

FORMER Minister for Children Mary Hanafin has infuriated parents, teachers and school managers by claiming that the rise in application for special needs assistants in classrooms may be a sign that the system may have gone “out of control.”

There have been 5,500 applications for special needs assistants in primary and secondary schools between February and August 21, twice the norm.

Teachers say they need the extra help to cope in the classroom and parents say applications have only risen because more and more are realising that if they don’t look for the help their children need now, they will be left behind as they would have been a generation ago.