July 1, 2021, Kildare Nationalist: 732 SPECIAL-EDUCATION NEEDS CHILDREN WITH NO SCHOOL PLACE HTTPS://KILDARE-NATIONALIST.IE/2021/07/01/732-SPECIAL-EDUCATION-NEEDS-CHILDREN-WITH-NO-SCHOOL-PLACE/
Kildare North TD Réada Cronin has said Ireland is back to the 1950s where special education needs children are hidden away.
She has discovered that there are 732 children with Special Education Needs currently without a school place in the state and sanctioned for home tuition.
The shocking numbers were given to the Sinn Fein TD in response to a Parliamentary Question.
“I have been working for months to get a school place for a teenager in the North Kildare constituency and am horrified by these figures. With 732 children in the same position as this boy, being taught at home with Home Tuition, because they have no school place, we have gone back to the 1950s when our special-needs children were hidden away. The stress on families is just incredible.
“It is appalling that our special needs children are being relegated. I know from experience that often their parents are afraid to speak up in case whatever help they have is taken away. They are afraid to rock the boat….
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“I have gone back to the Minister for Special Education and Inclusion for further clarifications on these numbers. It is gobsmacking that we are patting ourselves on the back about Equality and Inclusion – and have created Ministers for both – when we have 732 children abandoned like this. We have a seat on the UN Security Council but no seat at school for these 732 children. This shows totally wrong priorities here from the government….
