Tough sanctions should be imposed on fee-paying and other schools that exclude special-needs students, a leading teaching union has demanded.
The Teachers' Union of Ireland (TUI) says it deplores the "the brazen refusal of certain schools to regard the education of students with special educational needs as part of their mission".
The union wants some or all public funding to be withdrawn from "schools that contrive to prevent the enrolment of students with special educational needs".
TUI education and research officer John MacGabhann says the union wants to "prevent the continued ghettoisation of certain students".
Department of Education figures on special-needs provision in Dublin schools, published last year, raised serious issues about enrolment policies.
The figures show that almost 30 per cent of pupils in some schools in poorer areas receive special-needs attention.
In contrast, the level of provision is very low in some fee-paying schools, and in schools in more prosperous areas.
Minister for Education Mary Hanafin has expressed concern about the issue, saying some schools were avoiding their responsibilities to special-needs pupils, be they students with mild learning difficulties or serious physical and mental challenges.
The TUI says it is "abhorred by the segregation and the discriminatory practices of those schools which contrive not to enrol students with special educational needs. "This evasion of a school's responsibility in terms of public policy must not be allowed."
It warns that the bona fides of the new National Council for Special Education and the Minister will rest in large measure on the determination they exhibit to challenge and overcome the refusal of certain schools to regard the education of students with special needs as part of their mission.
The TUI says it "must be made clear that no school will be allowed to avoid its responsibility to students with special educational needs.
The general aim should be to enable a child with special education needs to be educated in a local school with his/her siblings and neighbours.
"Failure to act in this regard will lead to disproportionate enrolment of students with special needs, in particular schools which will become, de facto, special schools."
The TUI is also demanding:
an overhaul of teacher training to ensure that all teachers are equipped to serve the needs of students with special needs;
more staff and funding for the Special Education Support Service;
that the (in-service) training needs of the classroom teacher in regard to integrating special-needs students be addressed as a matter of urgency;
more places on special education courses for post-primary teachers who wish to qualify as special education/resource teachers;
the design and implementation of a range of appropriate curriculums and syllabuses for special-needs students, to take full account of the nature and degree of their needs.
The union says it is time the Government moved from rhetoric to action on the issue.