FIFTY judicial reviews were taken against the Department of Education relating to school places for children with special education needs last year, internal records have revealed.

The move to take judicial reviews shows the ‘desperation’ some parents face in trying to get their child a school place, Social Democrats TD Jen Cummins has said.

The State is struggling to accommodate the growing demand for special needs places over the past few years.

Speaking in the Dáil in April, Education Minister Hildegarde Naughton said 7,860 children met the requirements for a special class or special school place for the 2026/27 year.

An internal memo from late last year, and released under the Freedom of Information Act, within the Department of Education shows that 50 judicial reviews were taken against the State by parents in a bid to get special school places for their children.

The report said: ‘In advance of the 2025/26 school year, the department received over 100 pre-litigation letters and 50 judicial reviews were taken against the department relating solely to school places for children with special education needs.

‘This had grown from approximately 40 the previous year.’

It added: ‘Despite having created 407 new special classes and over 300 new special school places across the country, many of these cases were difficult to resolve and required bespoke solutions because of the overall demand for specialist placements.

‘The cost of running these cases from a manpower and legal cost perspective is very high. It is clear that the demand is even higher for 2026/27 school year, and while the earlier planning this year will be of assistance, if we do not continue to create the additional places required, the litigation cases will continue to grow.’ The memo created within the department shows that many EU countries have approximately 5% of their overall student population in a special class or special school, or equivalent setting.

At the start of this school year in Ireland, just over 3% of all primary and post-primary students were attending a special class or school. The memo also warned that demand for special education places was likely to increase due to the creation of a new Education Therapy Service in special schools. At the start of last year, over 15,000 children were on the waiting list for an assessment of need (AON) under the Disability Act, with fears it could be as high as 25,000 by the end of this year.

The memo said: ‘This shows that there is a continued level of unmet need in the health service, including for therapies and respite, and in many instances by the time the child accesses the AON diagnosis, the level of need which they present has increased making school placements more challenging.’

The memo also warned that many parents had ‘expert reports’ seeking a special school place and were ‘hesitant’ to accept a special class instead.

It said: ‘It is expected that many of these parents will continue to seek a special school place for their child for the 2026/2027 year.’

Another document noted that from September 2025, over 30,500 students with more complex needs would be enrolled in special classes and special schools – an increase of 67% since 2020.

It stated: ‘It is considered that there is little or limited remaining school accommodation available for the purposes of establishing new special schools and consideration will need to be given as to how best to manage this issue going forward.’

Ms Cummins has called for the department to make public the number of children awaiting special education school places. She said: ‘Parents across the country are desperately trying to secure appropriate school places for their children, yet there is still no clear picture of the scale of unmet need. We urgently need transparency from the Department of Education and the National Council for Special Education (NCSE) on the number of children currently without appropriate special education placements.’

Speaking in the Dáil chamber in April, Ms Naughton said: ‘The NCSE has verified that 7,860 children and young people notified to it by October 1, 2025 meet the requirements for a special class or special school place for the 2026-27 school year.

‘Further children have come forward after this date, and this will continue right up to September 2026. Approximately 7,000 of the 7,860 children and young people have a diagnosis of autism. There is generally an adequate number of available places for children and young people with other diagnoses. The focus continues to be on new places for children and young people with autism.

‘Many of the 2,700 new special education places provided for in the 2025/26 school year are in special classes, which means there are now 3,741 special classes in our education system.’ In addition to failing to provide the adequate number of places, the Department of Education has run over budget over the last number of years in a bid to accommodate each child who needs such a place. This led to a bailout for the department of over €600million.

A spokesman for the Department of Education said: ‘The vast majority of students with special educational needs are supported to attend mainstream classes with their peers. Where students with more complex needs require additional supports, special classes and special school places are provided. This is in keeping with policy on an inclusive education, which advocates that students will be supported to receive an education in the most inclusive setting possible.

‘The department and the NCSE continue to work closely with school patron bodies, school management bodies and schools to confirm new special classes for the next school year, 2026/2027. The Department of Education and Youth never initiates legal action in relation to special class or special school placements. The department’s aim is that no parent ever has the need to take a case against the State, and where this happens, we continue to work with parents to ensure solutions are found as quickly as possible.

‘Some parents feel they have no choice but to take legal action when they cannot get a suitable school place for their child. This is something the department deeply regrets and works hard to avoid.

‘When a legal case is initiated, the State is legally required to respond, and we apply the Attorney General’s guidance to find solutions as early as possible. The department remains mindful of the impact that cases like these can have on everyone involved and are committed to progressing these matter’s respectfully and in line with guidance from the Office of the Attorney General.’