Govt report shows big rise in amount of children with special needs in primary schools

The number of children with special needs in primary schools increased by more than 60% in four years, according to the Government's Education Indicators for Ireland report.

The Government report gives, for the first time, an overview of school and third-level education and training.

The report, which examines a range of areas, shows the number of children in special classes rose from 3,816 in 2014 to 6,229 in 2018.

While the number of special education teachers is at more than 13,400.

It also shows the number of students doing the Leaving Cert rose to 69% in 2018, while 72% of students take Transition year.

Almost 245,000 higher education graduates secured qualifications in 2017 - with 67,000 receiving an honours degree.

Up to 10.6% of students with a disability entered higher education the same year.