Calls for appeals system where pupils with disabilities lose care support

AN appeals mechanism must be put in place for cases where care support is withdrawn from pupils with disabilities, primary teachers demanded yesterday.

The cutbacks in various education services and the impact of two budgets since October on teachers’ pay were the subject of a number of motions on which members of the Irish National Teachers’ Organisation (INTO) backed industrial action at their annual congress yesterday.

Limerick delegate Ann McMahon said it is more important now than ever to have an appeals procedure for children who have the service of a special needs assistant (SNA) withdrawn or reduced. The Department of Education has a number of reviews of the number of SNAs working with children who have special needs and it is strongly expected that hundreds of children could lose such supports next autumn.