The Right to Inclusive Education for Children with Disabilities and Special Educational Needs in Ireland: A Critical Analysis under International Human Rights Law

Abstract

This research has highlighted that while there have been several encouraging developments for children with disabilities and Special Educational Needs (SEN), including Ireland’s ratification of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) in 2018 and the enactment of the Education (Admission to Schools) Act 2018, current gaps in practice remain which hinder the realisation of the right to inclusive education for such children. Adopting doctrinal, sociolegal and historical methodologies, which was further supplemented by drawing on empirical research in the field of disability studies, this research examined the right to education under the wider international and regional human rights framework and explored the various sources from which the child’s right to education derives. This set the foundations from which the right to education for more generally for children with disabilities and SEN may be located. This was followed by tracing the emergence and key developments on the international level leading up to the adoption of the CRPD. After which, the CRPD, and specifically the right to inclusive education under Article 24 were examined. This research then considered the historical development of the educational rights of the child in Ireland. This began by locating the right to education in the Constitution of Ireland 1937 and reflects on germane case law which refined the scope of this right, particularly for children with disabilities and SEN. This was followed by charting the radical shift in legislative and policy developments in this area, beginning with the enactment of the Education Act 1998. Finally, this research analysed the translation of inclusive education in practice for children with disabilities and SEN with a view to examining the factors which facilitate, and the barriers which inhibit, inclusive educational practices for children with disabilities and SEN in Ireland, meeting the obligations conferred on States Parties by the CRPD and Article 24 thereunder.