The National Council for Special Education is cutting the number of teaching hours for children with special needs. It says the number of teaching posts remains the same but a 10% increase in the number of children with special needs means an adjustment of 25% on 2011 levels was necessary.

The Irish National Teachers Organisation (INTO) has described the cuts as "savage".

The National Council for Special Education (NCSE) says 42,500 children with special needs will receive extra teaching support this coming school year.

That is up from 38,400 last year. It says the number of teaching posts remains the same but something had to give, and an adjustment was necessary.

This September a child with special needs that would have previously received 1 hour of extra teaching support will get just 45 minutes.

The INTO has described the cuts as "savage" and it says schools will not be able to cope.

Sheila Nunan, general secretary of the INTO, said primary schools would not be able to meet children’s special needs. "No amount of smokescreen and spin can hide the extent of this cutback. A 25% cutback in resource hours is a significant policy failure that will have long-term implications" she said.

"Effectively, this government is undermining the principle of inclusive schools. Without resources schools cannot support the integration of special needs children. Expecting special needs children to develop with three quarters of the resources in some of the most overcrowded classrooms in the EU is preposterous" she added.

While CEO of the NCSE is Teresa Griffin. She says schools need to change the way they teach children with special needs.