'My son’s future is being taken away’

“WE struggled so hard to get this help, for years, and now it’s taken away in the blink of an eye.

“They talk all the time about child protection, but a right to education is child protection too, and they’re taking away my child’s right when they take away this help.”

Behind the mountain of statistics and cost-saving claims involved in the special needs assistant (SNA) debate, the reality is that, from Monday, February 1, 2010, families across the country are facing into an educational abyss for their children.

Christina O’Neill, a 45-year-old who lives in Athboy, Co Meath, represents just one of their stories. The mother-of-three’s 16-year-old son Paul has ADHD, a severe attention deficit disorder.

After a four-year battle to receive the in-school support he needed, Paul was finally allocated an SNA officer at the local community school at the start of second year. Instead of chastising him for his actions, the officer, Janette, worked constantly with Paul in school, ensuring he paid attention in class and had an outlet for his feelings.

It led to a remarkable improvement in a child who until then was unruly and faced being thrown on the education scrap-heap by teachers “who did not understand”.

As a result, Paul achieved one A, seven Bs and three Cs in the Junior Certificate, an exam Christina insists her son wouldn’t have been able to take without the SNA help. Half a year later, with his Leaving Certificate looming, the support which was so vital to Paul is set to be taken away.

Education Minister Batt O’Keeffe insists Paul and 1,199 other vulnerable children can do without the service. Christina insists the man responsible for her son’s education is effectively selling his future for the sake of saving a few euro.

“Because of what they’re doing my son’s future is in the balance. It’s hugely stressful for the family because he’s basically walking a tightrope without a net.

“Paul was borderline anorexic before this and they’re taking away the support that got him out of that. The minister and the others, they’re just not seeing the human side of this.

“They’re not protecting my child in the one thing that matters most, his education,” she said.

According to Christina, the people making the decision to cut 1,200 vital SNAs from the education system don’t realise the bottom line consequences of the move. Batt O’Keeffe, she adds, “doesn’t have a clue” about the damage he is about to cause.

But, however true the comments may be, unless there is an eleventh hour change in the Cabinet’s view, the criticism will soon not mean a thing.

From Monday, her 16-year-old son will be without the one person who has helped to keep his prospects intact.

Christina can’t bear to think of what will happen. Worryingly, she and her family are about to find out.