Parents ‘must battle to get place in school for special needs children’

‘Not satisfied’ with response

PARENTS of children with special needs have to ‘go to war’ to access a school place for their children, an Oireachtas committee has heard.

Labour’s Aodhán Ó Ríordáin said he was ‘horrified’ to learn what families had to go through to secure places and that some who had contacted him were ‘in tears’ over the matter.

The TD told the Education Committee a fundamental shift in the system was needed.

‘The process seems to be that the special needs organiser hands the parents a list of schools and says best of luck,’ the Labour education spokesman said.

He continued: ‘I know of parents who have gone to 15 or 16 schools to try to access a place.

‘So not only are you dealing with a challenging situation, you almost have to go to war with the system in order to access a school place.

‘There seems to be no absolute right for a school place.’

Mr Ó Riordáin asked representatives from the Department of Education and the National Council for Special Education (NCSE), who appeared before the committee yesterday, how they could stand over such a system.

Mary McGrath, head of operations at the NCSE, admitted that were ‘pinch points’ where some parents find it difficult gaining a place for their child.

But she told TDs and senators that special educational needs organisers (SENOs) advise parents about schools where they are aware of placements available for the forthcoming school year.

‘The SENOs are engaging with schools on a continuous cycle and planning additional special classes and placements, and those places are confirmed at different points of time in the year,’ she said.

‘SENOs are updating parents who are seeking special school and special class places as those placements become available.’

Ms McGrath added: ‘We do at certain points in time experience pinch points in various parts of the country and we have to date triggered the legislation which commenced in 2018, twice in Dublin, where schools who did have some space were not responding to requests from SENOs to open special classes.’

Mr Ó Riordáin told the committee he was ‘not satisfied’ with Ms McGrath’s response.

He said in theory parents were meant to be supported, but in practice it was ‘something different and parents just give up’.

Martina Mannion, assistant secretary at the Department of Education, told TDs and senators that this year the State will spend more than €2billion, or more than 20% of its total educational budget, on providing additional supports for children with special educational needs.

This represents an increase of more than 50% in total expenditure since 2011.