“They need to treat the special education crisis like it’s a house on fire,” Adrienne Doyle Whelan said.

Kerry TD Danny Healy-Rae has been criticised for linking autism to "a lack of some vitamins" in the Dáil

Charlotte Cahill, whose daughter Cyra is autistic, said she believes the lack of school places for children with additional needs is getting worse

The stories of families affected by the shortage of special school places in Waterford were shared in Dáil Eireann on Tuesday. Waterford TDs David Cullinane and Conor McGuiness spoke on behalf of the parents who observed from the public gallery.

Cara Darmody (14) will tell a ‘monster meeting’ on Thursday that she will campaign internationally on the way Ireland is failing children.

The Taoiseach said that finance should ‘never be a constraint’ in hiring staff to provide therapies for children with additional needs.