THIS MORNING PARENTS marched to the Department of Education in Dublin in protest over a lack of school places for their children this September.

Organisers of the protest are aware of 65 children with additional needs who are without a place in school this academic year.

Today, a group of parents, supported by special needs assistants and some public representatives, protested outside the Department of Education to demand the appropriate resources for their children.

Among them was Charlotte Cahill, whose daughter Cyra (5) is supposed to be starting primary school this year. But despite Charlotte applying to 32 schools, Cyra is without a place. 

Charlotte, a cervical cancer survivor, was forced to miss a yearly cancer check-up this morning to join today’s protest.

“I was supposed to be at a colposcopy appointment this morning, I had cervical cancer three years ago and I was due my yearly check-up and I had to cancel my appointment because I know standing here with these people and standing here and trying to be the voice for my child is so important,” Charlotte told The Journal.

Her daughter, Cyra has a diagnosis of autism, epilepsy and pathological demand avoidance. Due to her complex needs, she needs a place in a special education school. 

“She needs an education and it’s something I can’t give her. I’ve been paying privately for all her therapies since she was 18 months old. Thousands and thousands [of euro] on therapies that she was supposed to get through the Government. 

“Therapies she is still on waiting lists for today, I’m paying for. But I can’t pay for an education, there is no private autism school, it doesn’t exist,” Charlotte said. 

“I need the state to provide my child with an education and she has the constitutional right to have that.”

Because Cyra does not have a school place for September she is now forced to return to preschool for a third year. 

“It’s really shameful, I’ve been told by the preschool that she is ready for school. She’s been there for three years now and it’s only supposed to be for one year. 

“She’ll go back to preschool and possibly regress,” Charlotte said. 

Charlotte has been left with no choice but to seek legal advice.

“I’m hoping and praying that something comes of that,” she said. 

Another mother, Sarah, was at the protest today because her six-year-old son Korbyn, who is autistic, does not have a school place this September. 

Sarah told The Journal that she has lost track of the number of schools they have applied to. 

Despite protests and meetings in Leinster House, Sarah said “we don’t seem to be getting anywhere”.

“The last meeting we had in the Dáil, Minister [for special education] Hildegarde Naughton reassured us there would be a resolution. Korbyn should be starting school next week and still has no place,” Sarah said. 

Sarah said she now has no choice but to look for home tuition for Korbyn this September. 

She said Minister for Education Norma Foley and Minister Naughton should “hang their heads in shame”. 

“They’ve known for a long time that there wasn’t sufficient places…All this work should have been done last year so the schools were ready to go this year, it’s just not acceptable.”

Sarah holding a picture of her son Korbyn Jane Matthews Jane Matthews

Speaking outside the closed gates of the Department of Education, disability activist Bernard Mulvaney from campaign group Access4All said:

“For us here with children with additional needs, we have to fight tooth and nail every single year, year on year for the basics…Just to give our children a chance.”

“We can’t do this year on year, it’s shameful,” he added.

Mulvaney called out Taoiseach Simon Harris directly, and asked why he “the man who says he has an intimate knowledge of what it’s like to live in a family with disability” isn’t working to get these children a place in school.

Earlier this week, The Journal spoke to Greg Lewis, whose son Sam does not have a place in secondary school this September. 

Today Greg and Charlotte delivered a letter to the Department of Education informing them of the 65 children without places in school and asking for change.

People Before Profit councillor for Ballymun-Finglas Conor Reddy, who was one of the organisers of today’s protest, said that they have asked the Department of Education for a response to all 65 children who are without a school place. 

“If we don’t get that we’re going to escalate this protest… Parents have been struggling for a long time with waiting lists for assessments and provision of therapies but we’ve really hit a breaking point now and parents have to stand up and be counted and we have to all back them.”

When asked how many children with additional needs are without a school place this September, the Department of Education would not provide The Journal with a figure.

Speaking in Leinster House on July 10 Simon Harris said he could say “with a degree of confidence that every child will have a school place in September.”

However, speaking this week, Minister for Education Norma Foley could not make the same commitment. 

When asked if she could guarantee a school place for Sam and other children like him this September, Foley said: ““We are absolutely committed to ensuring that every child, and I don’t want to reference any individual child here, that every child has the appropriate school place, and we will work hand-in-hand with families, with the schools in question, to ensure that that’s the case.”