Special Needs

Panel speakers at the meeting hosted in Dublin Tuesday 31 March 2026

Dangerous Rises in Gender Based Violence, Healthcare Neglect and Lack of Special Needs Services Demand Organised Collective Fightback

For real progress on women’s rights, don’t wait for it - organise for it. Get involved, get active and help build the movement fighting back for women’s liberation.

2 Apr 2026

Carroll Slams Special School Summer Scheme Fiasco

Carroll Slams Special School Summer Scheme Fiasco

U-turn on special school summer schemes threat... but this fiasco should never have happened.

28 Mar 2026

Gerry Carroll protest as Stormont blocks boy from playing with other children.

5,500 Children with Special Needs Abandoned by a Dysfunctional Executive

Carroll: “I’m calling on families and education workers to come together and make clear that this decision will not stand. If ministers won't act, people will take to the streets and force them to.”

27 Mar 2026

Cllr Conor Reddy speaking in front of an Equality in Education demonstration in front of the Dept of Education.

Parents Demand Meeting with Minister Within One Week as Finglas Special Classes Remain Undelivered

"The project has stalled because the project management company responsible for the build has not submitted the additional detail... As a result, planning permission cannot be granted..." Cllr. Reddy: "The buck stops with the Minister..."

19 Mar 2026

Equality In Education protest at the Department of Education

Finglas Families Devastated as Promised Special Classes Delayed Until 2027

The classes were sanctioned the day before Equality in Education held sleepouts, however the required school buildings have not been delivered. Devastated parents and advocates speak out: 'There is no excuse good enough to justify what has happened here. (These children) have been failed...'

12 Mar 2026

SNAs and school community members protest proposed cuts in Dundalk as Government 'pauses' cruel cut.

Midweek Uprisings Support SNAs to Defeat Cuts

Wednesday evening saw 31 protests. People across the country stood up against the government's cuts to SNA numbers and won as families, workers, trade unionists and left parties came together for children in need of support against a government that just can't stop cutting off help to those in need.

26 Feb 2026

Party reps and leaders stand with Richard Boyd Barrett behind placards saying Demand An Emergency Disability Payment, advertising the protest this weekend.

Left Unites Again to Fight Disability Payment Emergency

Opposition Party leaders come together to back a major national protest for an Emergency Disability Payment at 1pm Saturday, 28 February in Dublin.

25 Feb 2026

SNAs behind a Fórsa union banner saying #RespectForSNAs United We're Stronger at a Dublin march

SNA Climbdown Big Win, Threat Remains, Protests Today

Government climbdown is a win for SNAs and parents, but threat of cuts remains. Government must engage with SNAs, their unions and advocacy groups on redeployment proposals and the wider crisis in special education. Protests to go ahead including at 5pm today outside the Dáil

25 Feb 2026

Cllr Conor Reddy in front of Richard Boyd Barrett in the Dáil and a Special Education Needs Campaign Protest with Bernard Mulvany

Councillor Conor Reddy - Minister’s Replies Show No Real Plan for Special Education

Submitted by Richard Boyd Barrett, replies to Cllr Conor Reddy's questions reveal a system that is still operating year to year, no long-term planning, no clarity about scale of need, no specific commitments for areas under most pressure. Full document available.

3 Dec 2025