Parents call on Government to ensure school places for all.
A 24 hour sleepout will be held outside Leinster House tonight.
A group of 200 parents are gathering to highlight issues around special education school placements.
They're urging the Department of Education to take immediate action to address the gaps in support for their children.
The parents have been meeting with the Education Minister and the CEO of National Council for Special Education, but they say there's still no guarantee every child will have a school place in September.
At one of those meetings, the NCSE confirmed it has no official figure for the number of children without a place.
Call for autism supports
The sleepout coincides with World Autism Day.
A survey by AsIAm found 70% of people with autism don't believe the education system is inclusive of Autistic people.
Adam Harris, AsIAm CEO says:
"This is a constitutional right that exists. Year on year we see a failure to vindicate that right. We urgently need to see a centralised applications process. We need to see a better alignment between capital investment and the sanctioning of autism classes around the country".
Marking World Autism Day, AsIAm has launched its Same Chance Report 2025, revealing a concerning regression in access to vital supports and services for individuals and families. Read the full report here: https://t.co/tUNwZJlYj9 pic.twitter.com/5HnPvogZS8
— AsIAm (@AsIAmIreland) April 2, 2025
Education Minister response
When asked about today's sleepout, Minister for Education Helen McEntee said she's still committed to making sure every child has an appropriate school place next year.
"Compared to this time last year, we have 80% more school places sanctioned, and work is underway to make sure that those schools are opening up.
369 additional classrooms have been approved already this year. I gave a commitment that 400 new additional education classrooms would be opened. The remainder of those, I hope, will be sanctioned by the end of this week".
The sleepout will begin at 2pm today.
