The announcement of 660 new special needs teaching posts aims to address widespread problems experienced by primary schools.
Many parents of primary pupils with such needs will understandably welcome the announcement as a positive, if long overdue, development.
Under a new "weighted" system of special needs allocation, which will be facilitated by the new jobs, primary schools will be allocated resource teaching hours based on their enrolment figures. This system will be introduced in September.
Focusing on students with the most frequently occurring types of special needs, such as dyslexia, the new system will remove the need for resources to be allocated on the basis of individual applications that are supported by psychological assessments.
This should significantly speed up the process of special needs allocation, and reduce the administrative burden on schools.
This is not the first time the "weighted" system has been proposed.
Minister for Education Mary Hanafin's predecessor, Noel Dempsey, also favoured its introduction.
However, the original model prompted fears that smaller schools in particular would lose out. This was because resources were linked in such a rigid way to school numbers.
The new system, backed by the new teaching posts that the INTO last October warned were essential to allow its implementation, should do away with many of these concerns. Three hundred and forty of the posts will be permanent, with a further 320 provided on a temporary basis to facilitate the transition to the new system.
Under normal practice, the extra posts will be advertised internally within schools. They will then hire another teacher externally to take over the duties of the successful applicant for the special needs post.
But the amount of specific training that teachers receive for special needs posts varies greatly. Some will have taken part in specialised courses, while others will receive training after taking up their employment.
Under yesterday's announcement, small schools will qualify for their first teaching post at 100 pupils in the case of a boys' school; 105 pupils for mixed schools; and 150 students for small girls' schools.
Similar provisions will be made for larger schools.
Crucially, the system will mean these schools will also be able to qualify for "pro rata" posts. This means they can qualify for half a post where pupil numbers dictate the necessity.