State failing children with special education needs, says Children's Ombudsman

The failure to provide for children with special needs is 'not acceptable', said Children's Ombudsman Dr Niall Muldoon. Picture: Leah Farrell

The State is failing children with special education needs, effectively segregating them from mainstream education by denying them the resources they need, according to a damning report published today by the Office of the Children’s Ombudsman (OCO). 

It says the system prevents children with SEN from integrating into standardised school settings, leading to the “emergence of a dysfunctional parallel system that the Department of Education needs to dismantle as a matter of priority”.