‘I fear for Angel... I have to take a stand’
James and Angel were jostled out of the hall before they could ask Green leader John Gormley, why after a year of trying, Angel had not been given a place in a school that could cater for her needs.
The following six weeks saw the pair and supporters conduct further protests, including a picket at the Dáil, before the Department of Education did find an place in St Michael’s House Special School, Rathgar, for Angel. The school had earlier stated it had not been provided with the resources to cater for the then 11-year-old who suffers from closed spina bifida and behavioural difficulties.
Sitting in a multi-room portable building, beside Dún Laoghaire Dart station in south Dublin, which has been adapted by the local authority to cater for Angel’s needs, James explains that he had no option but to protest.
“I don’t apologise for one minute going to the Green party conference and I would do it again tomorrow if it was on because at the end of the day any child in Irish society, but particularly a child with special needs, needs people to stand up for them.”
But although his local authority has met their commitments to improve the housing conditions of the family – that also includes James’s elderly mother and nine-year-old son Micheál – it has been a different situation when dealing with the bureaucratic intransigence of the HSE.
“Last year I was given a commitment from both the Department of Education and the HSE that Angel’s overall needs would be met. Today, even though she has been in school for nearly a year there has been little improvement in Angel’s overall health or needs because she still hasn’t got the treatment she needs, she still hasn’t got visual therapy and she still has had no behavioural therapy.”
James adds: “But what is more worrying is that Dún Laoghaire HSE has refused to even take on Angel’s case.”
Since last October James has been told by the HSE in Dublin, who initially took Angel’s case that it must be transferred to Dún Laoghaire, in whose catchment area the family lives. Despite repeated contacts with them Dún Laoghaire HSE is refusing to meet James, they say the family’s accommodation is temporary but have been provided with a long-term tenancy agreement from the local authority.
In recent months the Dún Laoghaire HSE has refused to pay for the report of a behaviour psychologist into Angel’s needs to be released.
“I don’t think they want the report released because it will have specific recommendation in it that they should have to act on,” said James.
The lack of therapy aimed at elevating her medical conditions has seen Angel displaying increasing behavioural problems at school. The school itself has its own difficulties in attempting to secure funding to fulfil a previous government commitment to construct a building which is adequate for children with special needs.
Already the state does not provide funding for specialist sleep medication that Angel was provided with when she lived north of the border in Derry. James also fears the three days a week respite care paid for by the HSE in Dublin may be discontinued.
“The Government may need to make cuts but they can surely leave special needs children alone, leave the easy target alone. There is a need for parents of special needs children to get answers from the Government, people want to fight but they feel what is the point but if I hadn’t done what I done last October I wouldn’t have got Angel into school.”
James is seeking to bring together parents in similar situations for what he sees will be the fight of their lives as they attempt to protect their children from the worst effects of cutbacks brought about by others’ economic follies.
“My aim is to give Angel the best quality of life as she is growing up but the resources are just not getting provided to do this. I fear for Angel, what will happen when she gets older, they will try and intimidate you, but you have to take a stand.”
The Minister for Children’s department and HSE said they could not “comment on individual cases” when we asked for a response, but the HSE did add “it should be noted that the appropriate services are available and will continue to be available to this family”.
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