Cork 'pinch-point' for lack of special education school places

Oireachtas committee hears it is 'unacceptable' that 23 families in the city cannot get a school place for their children

The Irish Examiner reported last week on the years of frustration Darragh Murphy's parents have suffered trying to get a school place for him. See link to their story below. 

Families in Cork are facing an "unacceptable" situation where they are being offered home tuition for their children due to a lack of special education places, an Oireachtas committee has heard. 

Officials from the Department of Education and the National Council for Special Education (NCSE) appeared before the education committee today.

Cork is one of a number of major “pinch-points” across the country experiencing issues around the provision of special education school places, the committee heard. As previously reported by the Irish Examiner, families of children with a dual diagnosis of autism and an intellectual disability have been offered home tuition for September as they have no secondary school place.

No school place for 23 Cork families 

Pádraig O’Sullivan, Fianna Fáil TD for Cork North-Central, told the committee that 23 Cork families do not have a special school place for their child for September. A further 100 children on the autism spectrum do not have full access to an ASD class: 

Schools are managing as best they can, but that’s the reality of the situation in Cork and the services just need to catch up. 

“It’s fine to say ‘services have increased by x percent’, but in that debate, we also need to acknowledge the extra demand on services," he said.

People should have access to a school place for their child without having to resort to mechanisms such as Section 29s, he said, adding that local school patrons and other stakeholders are frustrated at the lack of progress in identifying a site for a new school to help alleviate pressure: 

During the pandemic, politicians of all cohorts reiterated that home tuition isn’t suitable for children with complex needs.

Come next September, unless a solution is found in Cork, there will be a number of families facing that prospect. It is unacceptable.” 

The vast majority of ASD classes in the city and county are full, he said, adding that while special educational needs organisers (SENOs) are supposed to help navigate families through the system, they probably feel “powerless themselves" due to a lack of places. 

Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire, Sinn Féin education spokesman and TD for Cork South-Central, also raised the situation faced by Darragh Murphy, 14, from Ballinlough in Cork City, who has autism. 

Darragh has been left without a school place for the second year in a row. His parents, Gary and Alison told the Irish Examiner last week that they now face another appeal to get their son an appropriate education, despite spending last year wrapped up in the appeals process.  

Mr Ó Laoghaire said he has been contacted by a constituent whose child received 12 rejection letters from different schools for September:  There's a crisis in Cork City when it comes to special units and special schools — how are we not anticipating the demand that's going to be there and what are we doing to fix that?  

The Department of Education and the NCSE is "acutely aware" of issues in Cork, according to Martina Mannion, assistant secretary at the department.

"We are working tirelessly to ensure that we do have appropriate provision available in the Cork area to meet the needs,  regardless of diagnosis for those children," she said.