Irish Autistic Children Face September Without School Places Amid Shortfall

As primary schools across Ireland prepare to reopen, a significant number of autistic children who were promised school places for September will likely remain at home. This situation arises because they have either not received a school offer or their designated school is not yet ready to accommodate them.

“

This is my second year now applying for a special school for Sam and most of nearly all the rejections are like due to oversubscription.

The National Council for Special Education (NCSE) has stated it cannot provide a precise figure for children awaiting special school or special class placements next month. The council attributes this difficulty to the continuously changing information as numerous schools are still finalizing their admissions procedures. However, a report from April indicated that 7,860 children required a special school or class placement for the 2026/2027 academic year, while only 5,500 places were available, leaving a shortfall of 2,360 children.

“

Only one of them was he placed at number one on a waiting list, which is Balbriggan. And we live in smack bang in the middle of Dublin city centre.

Lisa Storey, whose nearly seven-year-old son Sam is autistic and lives in Dublin, is facing the same challenge for the second consecutive year. She described receiving rejections primarily due to oversubscription, with Sam often placed high on waiting lists, sometimes even number 15. "We live in smack bang in the middle of Dublin city centre," she said, highlighting the impracticality of being placed on a waiting list in a distant location like Balbriggan.

“

I'm just so stressed out over it. I've just hit a brick wall right now, I've had enough.

Storey expressed extreme anxiety about Sam's potential regression if he is forced to stay home again. "I'm just so stressed out over it. I've just hit a brick wall right now, I've had enough," she shared, admitting to dreading opening admission update emails. She fears regression due to the limited support available at home, especially given their small, one-bedroom flat, which makes home tuition unfeasible. Storey questions the system, noting that while parents who intentionally keep children from school face penalties, her son's lack of a place is physically unavoidable.

“

I'm worried now about the regression because there's only so much that we can do at home.