This article traces the development of policy in regard to the provision for children with special educational needs from the report of the Special Education Review Committee in 1993 to the enactment of the Education for Persons with Special Educational Needs Act in 2004. It begins with definitions of the terms special educational needs and pupils with special educational needs. The main discussion includes reference to the O'Donoghue Case, the Comprehensive Initiatives scheme of 1998, the Education Act of 1998, the Study of Remedial Education in Irish Primary Schools 1998, the Learning Support Guidelines of 2000, the reports of the task forces on dyslexia and autism, as well as the circulars issued by the Department of Education and Science relevant to special education in that period. (Contains 1 note.)