A Donegal TD has criticised the government’s failure to plan ahead so that all children with special educational needs are able to secure a school place.
Deputy Charles Ward says Ireland’s education should be a proactive one, not a reactive one.
In April, a group of parents from Donegal joined a sleep-out protest outside government buildings to highlights the lack of capacity for nine children at Little Angels in Letterkenny, despite the special school moving to a new state-of-the-art facility in September.
Last week, the Minister for Special Education Michael Moynihan TD confirmed that the school is to have two additional teaching posts on foot of notification of enrolments received by the school management.
All pupils have now been offered places and demands are met for Special School places in the county.
Deputy Charles Ward said that mothers should never have had to go to such lengths for their children’s right to education.
The Donegal Deputy said: “I understand that Minister Moynihan is doing what he can to address this situation, and I have thanked him for intervening in Little Angels in Letterkenny, but Donegal mothers should never have had to resort to traveling to Dublin, to sleep outside Leinster House, in order to be heard. We need a proactive education system, not a reactive one.”
The 100% Redress Party TD added: “Children with special educational needs deserve the same certainty that they will be able to attend school as every other child. We need to strengthen the legal rights of children within our education system and ensure that every single child has equal access to an education.”
