Children with acute special educational needs are to receive "immediate" assistance under the plan to be unveiled by the Minister for Education and Science, Mr Dempsey, today.
At present more than 6,000 children who have been assessed are still waiting for the allocation of special needs support in their schools.
The new commitment is the centrepiece of a special needs package which will also include a commitment to provide much more special needs support for students in schools in disadvantaged areas.
Resources will also be targeted towards all male schools, after evidence that the need for special needs support is much greater among boys.
About 13 per cent of primary school children are estimated to require special needs support. There is a long waiting list for such support, as a psychological assessment must be completed before support is given. The new package has been agreed after discussions between the Department of Education, the INTO and the National Educational Psychological Service (NEPS). In April Mr Dempsey announced that some 350 additional special needs teachers would be recruited from September. He also unveiled a "weighted system" for allocating special needs support.
Under the new system, the schools themselves will be able to allocate special needs resources, if the principal is satisfied that they are warranted.
Inevitably the new package will be seen as a response to the Government's poor showing in the recent elections and the success of special needs campaigner Ms Kathy Sinnott in the European elections. But education sources say the new package has been under preparation for several months.
The new weighted system is intended to target resources where they are most needed. It is also designed to end the lengthy waiting period for support.
There has been some criticism from educationalists that an unfair burden will fall on school principals, who must assess the case for special needs for a student.
But education sources say the additional teaching resources and the level of expertise available through the NEPS should provide the assistance required.
Mr Dempsey has made special needs and disadvantage his two main policy priorities. Earlier this week he said he would "love" to remain in his current post, amid some speculation that he could be moved in the forthcoming reshuffle.
His success in securing 350 additional teachers has received a cautious welcome from the INTO, who say that about 1,000 additional special needs teachers are required.
