Special needs: 'Every day I'm fighting for my child to get a school place'
Parents whose children do not have suitable special education places protesting during the recent rally at the Department of Education in Dublin. Parents are set to protest again in Cork tomorrow, Saturday. Picture: Gareth Chaney
In April 2019, outside the gates of Leinster House, Annmarie McGoldrick was approached by an 'Irish Examiner' reporter.
She had travelled to Dublin that day from her hometown of Carrigaline, Co Cork, in a bid to highlight how she could not secure a primary school place for her oldest daughter Sophie, then four, despite trying every school on Cork’s southside.
“They either have no autism unit or they have a unit with a waiting list that might be two years long, or so long that they’ve stopped taking names,” she had said almost six years ago.
Armed with placards and pictures of Sophie, smiling and dressed in her pre-school uniform, Annmarie and her mother attended a national protest brought to the doors of the Dáil, aimed at highlighting failures in upholding children’s constitutional right to education.
Sophie was almost seven starting primary school alongside four- and five-year-olds. “She’s a tall girl anyway, so she really stood out,” Annmarie this week told the .
After a barrage of rejections, her daughter was eventually offered a place in a mainstream school in Carrigaline that planned to open an autism class.
However, in the summer of 2021 just before she was about to start, the family found out through media reports that the campus earmarked for the developing school was being reassigned.
Instead, the school building was used to open Carrigaline Community Special School — one of the 11 new special schools established in the last five years — and announced after families that year had no other option but to highlight how their children had been left without school places.
The mainstream school that lost that campus as a result has been left renting an old building they have since outgrown.
"At the moment, Sophie will be going to school in September in what used to be a Spar shop on a different site to the rest of the school.
"She doesn’t have that primary school experience that we all would have — classrooms and a hall and a yard.
"She doesn’t have that.”
Now Annmarie is once again navigating the system for her younger daughter Anna, aged five, who requires a place in a special school.
She feels as if she is luckier than most other parents as Anna can attend early intervention for another year at her preschool, “because there are no school places this year, but they can’t keep her after that”.
“Some of the students in her preschool either cannot leave because there’s no school place, or some of them have to leave because they have reached the age limit, and they have no school place.”
This logjam has knock-on effects across the system.
“Because Anna won’t be leaving, it means that a three-year-old won’t be able to go in and take her place.
“It’s going to have a spiral effect, that three-year-old won’t get early intervention, and will probably be in a private preschool, in the wrong environment for them.”
“In three years’ time, they are going to be in my shoes now and not get a school placement. At the end of primary school, they’ll be in a position where they won’t get a secondary school.
"When is it going to end?”
Tomorrow, Saturday, parents will take to the streets of Cork to highlight the children still without a school place — either in special schools or in special classes attached to mainstream schools.
In the last five years, there has been a 103% increase nationally in the number of special classes in mainstream schools, and a 20% increase in the number of places in special schools.
Five new special schools have been promised to open for September in order to meet demand, including one earmarked for Cork.
Yet, countless parents across the country are again attempting to secure school places for their children for this September.
The issue is particularly marked in Cork this year.
To attend a special school, a child must have a professional report recommending this type of placement best suits them.
In Mayfield, Cork City, Leanne Thompson feels like she is running out of options for her son Eldon, saying: “I applied to all of them, to be told the same thing.”
Eldon, who turns five this month, has been going through the diagnosis process since the age of 18 months. “He just wasn’t meeting his milestones,” Leanne said.
He is autistic and has moderate to high needs. In December, he received a recommendation to attend a special school through his local Children’s Disability Network Team (CDNT).
“Schools have deadlines for enrolment, so it left me in a position where everything is last minute,” Leanne said.
Although they live close to St Killian’s and Scoil Cara, both schools are full.
She has also applied for autism classes in six different schools in Ballincollig and Douglas.
Faced with no other options, Leanne has now begun the application process for September 2026. She said:
“I just don’t feel like I have hope for Eldon for a school at all. Most units only take [children with mild needs].
“I have asked the CDNT what is the option for my child, as nearly every special needs school in Cork has turned him down, and I’ve resorted to asking my cousin — who is an SNA [special needs assistant] in Bandon — if there’s any places out there. I’m only resorting to a unit because I don’t want my child out of education anymore. It’s his right, but units turn him down because he’s moderate to high needs.
“They don’t want to be giving me phone calls to come collect him every day, or having an SNA bringing him home and upsetting him more.
“I’m doing the best I can, every day fighting for my child to get a school place. I feel like the constant battle is just so draining for mothers and fathers.”
Leigh Arundel, Cork City, is now on her second time campaigning for an educational placement for her daughter Bella, who turns five soon. Last week, she travelled to Dublin to take part in a protest outside the Department of Education offices, staged by parents.
Parents in Cork also wanted to highlight issues locally, she said. “The stories we heard in Dublin, and the absolute wide range of them — it’s not just young kids, it is kids in their mid-teens who should be well placed by now.”
Bella requires a special school place for September.
As a last resort, children who do not have a school place are offered home tuition by the Department of Education, a solution that Leigh knows will not suit her child’s needs.
“We have no idea what our next steps are, other than to get home tuition and that comes with its own list of problems. You have to go and find a tutor, you have to have them in your home or find a library and, even then, that’s not suitable.”
“Kids aren’t getting any socialisation or interaction. They are just out on their own with a teacher and coming home to their parents. My daughter doesn’t have any siblings, so her real interactions are at school.
“Any parent will tell you without a school place, and without the routine of school, it’s very hard to get yourself in a constant routine. At least with school, you have a couple of hours where you know the routine is set.”
In Kilworth, North Cork, Ciara Maguire is also facing her second year of applying to special schools for her son James. He will be six in September, and the family has been told there is no space for him to stay in pre-school.
She has applied to every special school in Cork, and another in Tipperary — although she is outside the catchment area. “I was told to apply because they have taken in kids from my area.
“I’ve had all my rejection letters; It’s either rejection letters or stuck on a waiting list. He needs a special school,” Ciara said.
“His needs are so high, an ASD class is not appropriate for him. He is non-verbal and uses an AAC [augmentative and alternative communication] device.
“He struggles with transitions and he needs a sensory room. He has an SNA with him at all times, because he can’t communicate and gets frustrated with the other kids. He struggles with change, so the next school he is in has to be his last.”
“My special educational needs officer [Seno] keeps telling me it is too early, we have to hold on, we have to wait, but it is not too early.
“If you look at getting the building and putting the money into it, and getting staff, you are talking next year. I don’t know what I’m supposed to do.
"Come September, the hardest part is going to be seeing his brother going to school and why can’t he go?
“Like every parent, you feel like they are doing so well and you’re going to have to just wait for the regress to kick off and you’ll feel like an absolute failure again.”
A spokesman for the Department of Education said that the National Council for Special Education (NCSE) has sanctioned 23 new classes so far for the coming school year — a total of 138 places. This includes 13 at primary level and 10 at post-primary level.
“It is expected that the NCSE will sanction additional further new special classes very shortly, and these will be published on the NCSE website and Senos at local level will keep families informed of these new special classes.”
Ministers Helen McEntee and Michael Moynihan have also instructed the NCSE to identify the needs for the 2026/27 school year this year, he added.
“The NCSE has advised the department that they are engaging closely with schools, boards of management, and school patron bodies across the country to open sufficient special classes to meet the needs of children with special educational needs.
“This work involves a detailed review of statistical data in relation to forecasting demand for special class places, an analysis of available school accommodation, consideration of improved data sharing arrangements, and a particular focus on the provision of special classes at post-primary level.”
This analysis is conducted across 314 school planning areas around the country, he added.
For Ciara, she is tired of receiving generic emails from TDs’ offices.
“All the emails back from the Taoiseach and the minister have been generic.
“They haven’t come back to me yet.
"My question is: What do I do come September? How do I explain to my son when he sees his brother going to school that he can’t go? What is the plan for his future, or is there a plan for his future?”
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