Parents who say they cannot find suitable school placements for their children with additional needs say they will stage a second protest and overnight sleep-out as part of their efforts to draw urgent attention to what they say is the ongoing crisis in special education.
The group, called Equality in Education, said it plans to sleep outside Leinster House tomorrow, which is World Autism Day.
It will be their second sleep-out following one outside the Department of Education several weeks ago.
Equality in Education said parents' concerns remains following a meeting last Wednesday with Minister for Education Helen McEntee and Minister of State with special responsibility for Special Education Michael Moynihan as well as National Council for Special Education CEO John Kearney.
They say while both ministers reiterated their intention that all children known to the National Council of Special Education (NCSE) would have an offer of a school place for September, they stopped short of a guarantee.
In a statement, the group said the NCSE confirmed that they do not have an official figure of children without school places.
"The true demand for additional educational needs (AEN) school places remains unknown," it said.
The group called for transparency and accountability.
Equality in Education said it represents 200 parents of children with additional needs.
It said their second sleep-out protest aims to shine a light on the critical shortage of suitable AEN school places for all identified children, to urge the Department of Education "to implement immediate and effective measures to address the gaps in support including accurate data collection mechanisms", and to demand transparency and accountability in the allocation of resources to special education.
It said parents would remain at Leinster House overnight to ensure their voices are heard and that the plight of their children is not ignored any longer.
