(Ireland) Cork ASD parents hold 24 hr Parliament protest over lack of school places
- The end of childhood
- Apr 2
- 2 min read
April 2, 2025, Cork Independent: Cork ASD parents spending World Autism Day in the cold as part of 24-hour ‘sleep out
Parents of children with special needs will be spending the night of World Autism Day out in the cold, sleeping outside the steps of Leinster House.
It’s in protest at the lack of school places for children with additional needs, an issue that has been raised consistently recently by politicians, calling on committees to get back to work, following the passed vote of confidence in Ceann Comhairle Verona Murphy yesterday (April 1).
Last week, advocates met with Minister of State at the Department of Education with special responsibility for Special Education and Inclusion, Michael Moynihan, as well as Minister of Education, Helen McEntee, but they are once again continuing their protest campaign, highlighting the lack of school places for children with Autism and other additional needs.
The sleep out, which begins at 2pm today, World Autism Day, and involves over 200 parents, is in what the group, ‘Equality to Education Campaign’, calls ‘a final effort to draw urgent attention to the ongoing crisis in special education.’
In a statement released by the group, they say they have continued concerns, despite meeting Ministers and National Council of Special Education CEO John Kearney. ‘Both Ministers reiterated their intention that all children known to the NCSE would have “an offer of a school place for September” but stopped short of a guarantee’ said the statement.
‘During a meeting with parents on Wednesday March 26, CEO John Kearney confirmed that the NCSE do not have an official figure of children without school places. He could only confirm that 3,200 parents had notified the NCSE of their need for an AEN place by February 2025. Additionally, Mr Kearney confirmed that there is no mechanism in place to track children currently in inappropriate settings. Therefore, the true demand for AEN school places remains unknown.
Comments