Cork school for deaf avoids service cuts due to ministerial u-turn

Disabilities Minister Anne Rabbitte paused a scheme that would have removed therapists from special schools in a move that has been welcomed by parents and teachers

Triona Fitzgerald, principal of St Columba's Girls National School in Douglas, pictured here with Taoiseach Micheàl Martin when he visited the school, has welcomed news its therapists will remain in situ after a policy change from Disabilities Minister Anne Rabbitte. File picture: Jim Coughlan.

Parents and teachers of deaf and hard-of-hearing students at St Columba’ Girls National School in Douglas have given a cautious welcome to Disabilities Minister Anne Rabbitte’s decision to pause the removal of therapists from special schools.

Under the Progressing Disabilities Scheme (PDS), St Columba’s, which has 34 deaf and hard-of-hearing students, would lose its in-school speech and language therapist, and parents would be forced to transport children across the city during class times to access therapy in a community-based setting.