Many fee-paying schools are providing little support to special needs pupils, according to new Department of Education figures.
These show special needs provision largely concentrated in "free" State schools and in disadvantaged areas in Dublin.
But the school with the highest level of special needs provision in Dublin is Newpark Comprehensive in Blackrock, which has the equivalent of 10 full-time teachers working in this area.
Schools in Clondalkin, Tallaght and Ballymun also have several special needs teachers. In marked contrast, some fee-paying schools have virtually no support.
Last night, John Mac Gabhann, assistant general secretary of the Teachers' Union of Ireland (TUI), openly accused some fee-paying schools in Dublin of "using both overt and covert means" to segregate and exclude pupils.
No school, he said, should be allowed to avoid its responsibility to students with special educational needs. Some schools had become a "magnet" for special needs pupils because neighbouring schools opted out.
The former president of the Institute of Guidance Counsellors, Brian Mooney, said he was dismayed by the figures, which exposed the divided nature of educational provision in Dublin.
The special needs survey is published with today's annual Irish Times supplement detailing the main feeder schools for over 30 third-level institutions.
The Institute of Education in Dublin, the State's best known grind school, tops the list. Another grind school, Yeats College in Galway, features prominently.
The special needs survey comes shortly after the Minister for Education, Mary Hanafin, moved to remind schools of their responsibilities to all students. She has commissioned an audit of enrolment policies in schools amid growing concern about the practice of "cherry-picking" the "brightest" pupils.
The special needs survey will raise new questions about State support for fee-paying schools, amounting to over €80 million annually. This is mainly used to pay teacher salaries in these schools.
Last month, Ms Hanafin said the policy of excluding special needs pupils was not just an issue for some fee-paying schools. She also knew of several cases in towns all over the State where parents of special needs children were advised to enrol their child in another school.
Mr Mac Gabhann said the bona fides of the new National Council for Special Education and the Minister would rest in large measure on the way they handled this issue.
Survey highlights two-tier education system: special eight-page feeder schools supplement
