Parents fight to keep classroom assistant for disabled son

THE parents of a boy with a severe and complex health condition will take their fight to keep his full-time classroom assistant to the Dáil this morning.

John and Rachel Kelleher from Cork will hand in a petition signed last week by more than 2,500 people calling on the Government to reverse its decision to halve the hours of nine-year-old Shane’s special needs assistant (SNA). Shane will also visit the Dáil.

“The decision to cut Shane’s SNA hours was made the same week the Disability Bill passed through the Dáil,” Mr Kelleher said last night. “So what I want to ask the Taoiseach is this: what is this bill going to do for my son? Children may not have a vote. But the people in the parents’ association and parents in our area do.”