The Department of Education has undertaken a review of the Education for Persons with Special Educational Needs (EPSEN) Act 2004. The purpose of this review is to provide assurance that the law that governs the provision of education for children with special educational needs is adequate. This is important, in order to protect the interests of the children concerned and their families, and to ensure that the State can make plans to provide for appropriate education for children with special educational needs.

The EPSEN Act defines ‘special educational needs’ in relation to a person as ‘a restriction in the capacity of the person to participate in and benefit from education on account of an enduring physical, sensory, mental health or learning disability, or any other condition which results in a person learning differently from a person without that condition’.