534 children in 128 primary school classes will be affected when the cutback is implemented next September and these children will then be taught by mainstream teachers in regular classes.

The Minister said the cut was due to the falling numbers of pupils with special needs in the classes. He claimed that 50 of the schools involved had four pupils or less in their special needs classes. It is department policy that a minimum of nine pupils is required to retain a teaching post for a class for mild general-learning disability.

"In the case of 128 classes (in 119 schools), the number of pupils dropped below this minimum," a department spokesperson said.

Minister O'Keeffe told RTE News at One that when the children were moved to mainstream classes they would still have special needs assistants and access to a resource or support teacher.

It is expected that the claw-back will save about €7 million.

The Minister's announcement - which seems once again to target the most vulnerable - drew a plethora of furious responses.

INTO general secretary John Carr said he was "shocked" at the "indefensible" decision which was made purely on financial grounds.

Sinn Féin’s education spokesman Senator Pearse Doherty said the assertion that the special needs of children could be met in mainstream classrooms was “a lie”.

Fine Gael’s education spokesman Brian Hayes said “additional and unsustainable pressure” would be put on existing mainstream classes, which would “inhibit the rights of all children to a decent education”.

Barnardos chief executive Fergus Finlay said it was “both unbelievable and unacceptable that, no matter what our economic difficulties might be, we are not making a special effort to protect children who need additional support - and who ought to be entitled to that support as a right.”

The National Parents Council (primary) said it was concerned that if the decision had been made for cost-cutting reasons, the individual needs of children could be severely affected.

Independent MEP Kathy Sinnott warned the Department that it might face a legal challenge, arguing that failure to provide a child with an appropriate education contravenes the Constitution.

“If the Government goes ahead with these cuts in the new school term and children find themselves without appropriate education..., then the Department of Education could once again find itself in a legal battle.”

Inclusion Ireland argued the cuts were a “retrograde step” that would cost the State more in the long term.

The organisation’s chief executive Deirdre Carroll said she was aware of many adults with a mild intellectual disability who were failed by the school system and were now without jobs, education, or support from disability services. (Sources: Irish Times; Irish Independent)