Reflections on Irish Special Education over Four Decades

Abstract

This paper is based on the keynote address delivered at the opening of the annual conference of the Irish Association of Teachers in Special Education at St. Patrick’s College in June, 2003. It does not aim to provide a history of the period in question but rather to indicate some important factors which may be considered to have facilitated or limited the development of services. The major expansion of recent years may be better understood against this background.