Vulnerable children 'wilfully discriminated against', say Cork parents

Children attending Carrigaline Community Special School no longer qualify for respite or home help, parents say

TD Pádraig O'Sullivan said that children attending Carrigaline Community Special School have been abandoned by the State. File picture: Tony O'Connell

Vulnerable children are being "wilfully discriminated against" and "abandoned" by the State, denied necessary services such as respite and home help because of the school they attend.

Angry and frustrated parents have joined forces in a new advocacy group, Cork Parents Unite, to demand change and better care for their children.

Families are being left in emergency situations with nowhere to go for help, people are being injured in attacks in the home but have no appropriate service to turn to, claim parents.

Because the school their children attend, Carrigaline Community Special School, is under the patronage of the Cork Education and Training Board rather than a traditional disabilities service provider such as Cope or the Brothers of Charity, they no longer qualify for respite or home help, they say.

Fianna Fáil TD Padraig O’Sullivan raised the issue in the Dáil on Thursday in the final hours of business before the chamber broke for summer recess.

He said that when Carrigaline Community Special School was established, no children's disability network team was assigned to it under the HSE's new Progressing Disabilities programme. 

This left children at the school with no access to therapies, unless they were accessing them privately, or other necessary services such as respite. 

“The State has completely abandoned them for that year since the school was established," said Mr O'Sullivan.

"The State has a responsibility but so does the HSE. A budget of €20bn-odd, and we’re here every week decrying and complaining about the lack of services.

“We have massive investment in special schools in Cork, there’s an awful lot of good happening in that sector but they’re not being met by services."

Green Party TD and minister of state at the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage, Malcolm Noonan, responded on behalf of disabilities minister Anne Rabbitte.

Extreme distress

Mr Noonan acknowledged that there was an immediate issue in Carrigaline Community Special School which is causing extreme distress to families.

He said that a more equitable service to provide respite to the children of Cork is currently being worked on.

He also said that Cork Kerry Community Healthcare team was involved in “scoping” the needs of the children in the school. 

Mr O'Sullivan asked how "scoping" could still be being carried out one year after the school opened.

"These kids have profound intellectual disabilities, some are being fed by tube, require round-the-clock attention, one year on from the opening of the school and we’re ‘scoping’."

He said that 36% of all posts in his community healthcare area are currently unfilled.

“What are we doing about it? We’ve been talking since 2017 about one-in-three and one-in-four HSE posts not being filled, and five years on there are still one-in-three and one-in-four HSE posts not being filled. 

"They have to start thinking outside the box, whether that means relaxing visa rules, recruiting outside the EU, if it means going on road shows right across the globe to find the staff that we need, someone needs to take the bull by the horns and just get on with it.”