The situation surrounding special education spaces in Laois secondary schools has been laid bare at a meeting this week.
The issue was brought forward by Independent Councillor Tommy Mulligan at Monday’s monthly meeting of Laois County Council.
Cllr Mulligan put down a motion, seconded by fellow Independent Caroline Dwane-Stanley, calling on the Department of Education and National Council for Special Education to immediately address the problem.
Cllr Mulligan said: “I’ve been contacted by numerous parents over the last few weeks who still haven’t received an offer for their child in an ASD class in secondary school.
“This is the time of year is when the offers are out. So as you can imagine, it’s an extremely stressful and worrying time for all parents.
“Parents feel powerless and that they have little or no options. They’re on a waiting list for the short to medium term and they don’t know where their child will end up in September or if they receive an offer for an ASD place at all. There’s no guarantees, there’s huge waiting lists at the moment.
“The hope is that things will settle down and they may get a place. But for the next number of months they have to go through the uncertainty of will they get offered and where will the place be. And that’s all out of their hands at the moment, it’s all out of control.
“So you can imagine the stress that’s involved with that and the worry that’s involved with that. And then the thing is then, if they don’t get offered a place in an ASD school and they get offered a place in a mainstream school, what supports will be in the mainstream school?
“Mainstream schools are under pressure themselves and chances are they won’t have adequate supports in place. So it’s very worrying and it’s a very tough time for parents.
“Many of these children have never been fully integrated in mainstream classes and such experiences will be completely overwhelming for them.
“The option of homeschooling isn’t an option for most families. Most families have somebody work in the household so it’s not an option.
“But as well as the parents it’s also a very stressful and worrying time for these vulnerable children.
“I see my own nephews there, they have to get their offers for secondary school as well. It’s the talk of the school yard for young kids now in primary school.
“But these innocent children are worrying, why are we being treated differently? Why aren’t we getting the same good news? What’s ahead of us? Why aren’t we getting the same opportunities as our peers?”
Cllr Mulligan then outlined the number of children who are on waiting lists to get into local schools.
He said: “I don’t have the figures for all the schools but I have for six of them. Presently as it stands, Portlaoise College has a waiting list of 16.
“Portlaoise CBS has a waiting list of 20. Scoil Chriost Ri has a waiting list of four. Heywood CS has a waiting list of 11. Colaiste Iosagain, Portarlington, has a waiting list of 11.
“While St Francis in Portlaoise has 50 applications for 12 places. So look, it’s pretty obvious there, right? There’s a chronic shortage of places available.”
Supporting the motion, Cllr Dwane-Stanley said the primary sector was well ahead of secondary in this year.
And she bemoaned the fact that ground still has not been broken on the new Dunamase School building.
She said: “It’s hard to believe that in the case of Dunamase College, we got the patronage of that for our new school in 2016.
“And nine years on, we’re no further on in actually getting that new school built.
“And if we had that new school, we would be able to have an ASD unit in it. So unfortunately, because the spaces are so small, everybody’s looking towards the small few schools that have the ASD units but are completely oversubscribed.”
Fine Gael Councillor Paddy Buggy said that the Department of Education needs to ‘cop themselves’ on.
He said: “I’m on the board of management of a secondary school myself.
“And we were told when we looked for a room for our kids that she had a study room there, ‘can’t you stick them in the corner over there?’
“That’s not good enough. How the hell can the study and learn in the corner of a study room where there’s other people coming and going all the time?
“And I think the Department of Education need to cop themselves on and start looking into the real world and looking at the problem and solving the problem.
“We also have another problem where parents are applying to several schools for their child and then people are being offered places and then they make up their mind afterwards. And that’s kind of blocking spaces, a bit like bed blocking in hospitals.
“And that needs to stop too because we don’t know until later in the year how many people are going to actually accept the places that they were offered. But getting back to the core issue of this, we’re way behind.
“We shouldn’t be this far behind. Those kids deserve better treatment and being told you can stick them in the corner is not good enough.”
Labour Councillor Marie Tuohy says that the whole situation makes her ‘angry’.
She said: “I agree with the previous speakers. I think it’s a very good motion but it’s not a motion that should ever need to be brought in.
“The pathway to education is a right. That’s what we’re told. So it actually makes me angry. And I know a couple of parents who are in a situation where they’re waiting to be told if their child gets a place or not.
“These are the more vulnerable children that we should be really looking out for. And as Paddy said, from the time a child starts primary school, there’s a way to calculate the upcoming need.
“Now, I understand what you’re saying about applying to multiple schools, but that’s probably the best option that’s available to those parents.
“And it’s no good being offered a place in a school that’s 40 kilometres away, just as a basic right.
“I just think it’s terrible sense that we’re even here talking about it. I just wanted to highlight it.”
Independent Cllr Aisling Moran said that children receiving diagnosis too late is also a problem.
She said: “I do think a lot of the problem as well is kids are being let through school and not being diagnosed until later.
“And in some cases, the department has maybe set places for so many kids in an area, then all of a sudden it doubles.
“They’re not getting caught, picked up at a young enough age. But when they have the figures, they need to start working together on it. And this can’t happen again next year.”
Independent Councillor Ben Brennan reiterated comments he made at the Graiguecullen/Portarlington Municipal meeting the week previous about Saplings school in Graiguecullen.
Construction work started on the new school for students with special needs in March 2023 but stopped later that year. The half-built school has laid untouched since then at the site in Fruithill.
Parents, students and teachers have been left in limbo while they await an update on when the work will restart. Saplings is currently operating out of prefabs in Killeshin.
Cllr Brennan said: “It’s an absolute disgrace. Saplins School in Graiguecullen was supposed to be for children all around the area. And I see it just left there now, all of a sudden.
“Grass grew up around it. The Chinese have turned the sod on it.
“There were some deals on with the government and the Chinese. Something backfired somewhere. But the Chinese have put the plug on it.
“And now we’re left with an empty shell. Absolutely disgraceful. And you see these children have nowhere to go.
“And they’re deprived of education. And we can’t send them to a mainstream school.
“They’re not capable of being in a mainstream school. So, therefore, as far as I’m concerned, the government has to come up with an answer.”
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