A department of Education and Science task force, set up as a result of last year's Cromien report, is holding up implementation of a plan to restructure special-education needs in this State. An internal department task force has already made wide-ranging recommendations on the structures and procedures needed to underpin special-education provision. This report however, must now be fed into the work of the task force set up as a result of the Cromien report, according to a source in the Department. The report, undertaken by retired civil servant Sean Cromien, highlighted the shortcomings of the overcentralised Department of Education and Science and recommended urgent reforms. Meanwhile, the special-needs report deals with the type of structural issues - including provision of services at local level - that are also being examined by the new task force.

Ironically, Niamh Breathnach's plans to create local education boards were abandoned by Micheal Martin when he became minister. In 1998, the Department launched a major special-needs initiative which gave specialneeds children automatic right to appropriate levels of teaching and childcare. However, on the ground, educators are concerned about the lack of a planned system of delivery. Shortages of trained teachers and support staff are also hampering the development of special-needs education. Lucan Educate Together School in Lucan, Co Dublin, for example, has been unable to open its special outreach class for autistic children due to the lack of qualified staff. "We have sanction for 12 children," says the school's principal Tom Conaty. "But I'm not enroling them until their needs can be assessed. To do otherwise would be completely irresponsible. We have recruited one teacher, but we can't get a second."