Parents of children with additional needs have spoken about how they are at their wits’ end on how to secure school places for this academic year.
SNAs (special needs assistants), activists, parents and their children marched from Cleary’s Clock on O’Connell Street to the Department of Education in Dublin to demand action so that vital school places are available for children with special needs.
Nicola O’Dea, from Finglas, said her 13-year-old son Sean – who has been diagnosed with autism – is due to start first year of secondary school this autumn.
She said they had applied to 15 different schools inside and outside of their catchment area, and still have no place.
She said their story has been raised before and they had meetings in the Department of Education three months ago where they were told they would not be in the situation that they are in.
“I work as an SNA myself, and I’m not going back to work now, I’m staying at home. Because my husband works, I work, somebody needs to be home with Sean,” she said.
“The sleepless nights, the constant worry, ever since Sean was diagnosed it’s battle after battle. You battle for assessments of need, you battle for school places, you battle for domiciliary, everything is a fight and it shouldn’t be.
“They deserve to go to school. He’s come on amazing from primary school and I just want him to continue that.
“I shouldn’t have to come here today to fight for a place for him, that’s his constitutional right, he deserves to go to school.”
Asked was she confident he would get a place in school next year, she said: “If Sean is at home for a whole year, he’ll be a completely different child next year.
“As much as I can do with him, I’m not a teacher. Sean needs the routine, the structure, he sleeps better when he’s in school, he’s calmer when he’s in school. If he’s at home for a year, he will regress.”
Addressing the Minister for Education Norma Foley, she said: “Get your act together. Enough is enough. Come live in my house, come feel our pain, our stress, our worry.”
Karen Fowler, from Raheny, said her daughter Amber does not have a place in secondary school – which means she may need to quit her job to look after her.
She said she had applied to 19 different schools and was either refused because they are not in the catchment area or because they are giving priorities to siblings.
She said Amber “thrives” when she is in a routine and comes on “in leaps and bounds”, but said she regresses without it.
“I just don’t know where to turn anymore,” she said. “The last thing I want to do is lose my job.
“I find myself in this situation where she has no place. She has regressed significantly over the summer time. She has challenging behaviours, she has a diagnosis of autism, non-verbal, an intellectual disability.
“I have been fighting for six months, alongside her dad and my family, to secure a place for Amber to no avail.
“I get the same replies, robot replies, same tick-box exercises, and I’m just very worried.”
She added: “I can’t even tell you the immense stress we are under, the pressure, the worry, the strain, it’s never-ending. It’s constantly fighting for the basics, it’s just unacceptable.”
Protesters chanted calls for school places to be provided immediately and criticised Ms Foley and Taoiseach Simon Harris.
A letter was handed in to the Department of Education with the names of children who had not yet secured a place.
The demonstration was told that if the Department does not get back with an update for each child by August 30, another protest will be held on September 2 in the city centre.
Bernard Mulvany, from Marino – whose 14-year-old daughter Sophia has a school place, said it was exhausting for parents to have to keep advocating to secure an education for their children.
Mr Mulvany, who is from Access for All Ireland and is involved in People Before Profit, said “we have to fight tooth and nail every single year, year-on-year, for the basics in Irish society”.
Sinn Féin TD Dessie Ellis was praised by parents for being the only TD from the Finglas area to attend the protest.
He told the crowd it was “no longer acceptable in this day and age that we should have to go out and literally beg for places, it’s not good enough”.
A spokesperson for the Department of Education said that special education and provision of an appropriate school place “is a priority for the Government”.
She added: “This is underpinned by investment of more than €2.7 billion in 2024, more than a quarter of the entire education budget. This will allow for, amongst other things, the opening of up to 400 new special classes in mainstream schools and 300 additional special school places.
“That level of provision is being delivered and the National Council for Special Education (NCSE) have advised the Department of Education that 408 new special classes have been sanctioned for the coming school year 2024/2025.
“This includes 290 new special classes at primary level and 118 at post-primary.
“This is on top of almost 1,300 new special classes sanctioned over the last four years. For the coming school year, there will be over 3,300 special classes operating in primary and post-primary schools across the country.”
She continued: “The NCSE is confident that there will be sufficient number of special classes to meet the needs of children known to them seeking a special class place for the coming school year.
“Where it is not possible to secure the small number of additional special classes required, the NCSE and Department will consider the use of the available legislative provisions if necessary.
“This includes Section 67 of the Admission to Schools Act 2018 which provides for the NCSE to direct schools to admit a student with special educational needs.”
