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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.”
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.”
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Disgraceful behavior.
The orders should be asked for nothing, all properties should be confiscated and sold with proceeds going to the slaves, because that’s exactly what they were.
Where’s Kenny with his tears now?
Sorry, can’t do it. Bertie let them all off the hook, in writing, about ten years ago. You can easily check the records of that. I believe that has cost us about 1.3 billion so far. Good old Bertie, goes to mass every day does Bertie.
Bingo,the man with the ash on his forehead,i bet even that was paid for by the taxpayers.
Sorry, we can do it.
Emergency legislation.
That can be done overnight.
Give them a TD’s salary and pension. They were forced to do more work than any of our dear politicians ever have.
The church needs to step up to the mark and pay its share, but you just know this wont happen even if it is overwhelmingly obvious that its the morally correct thing to do. Plus they can well afford it.
In my opinion the catholic church should have their tax exemption revoked and all the money that is collected as tax is used to pay for all the atrocities committed by the church and facilitated by the state.
Amazing how the struggle for justice seems to be transforming into the pursuit of money now.
So Egg Mcmuffin, you’d be content with just an apology???
These women were locked away for years for doing nothing, forced to work against their will, made huge profits for the so called religious orders & didn’t see a f**king red cent of it after all their hard work.
These women deserve a hell of a lot more than this pathetic shower of sh!te in Government have offered them.
I heard on Rte radio one woman say “I’ve been offered 30,000 but what can you do with 30,000 these days” I couldn’t believe it !
@ Paul – Compare that 30k with the 450k Mary Harney was awarded for the trauma suffered by an inference that she “maybe” an alcoholic by a media outlet to see the injustice of the offer/insult. In the eyes of the establishment normal people are virtually worthless. This appalling attitude has to change.
Seems the higher amounts will be paid off as a monthly pension rather then a lump sum. Seems the state is hoping to save some money.
Powerful and peaceful protest is what gets things done. These women have come so far on their own, they need our support. It does work!
Want to see people power and peaceful protest in action, not lying down and taking their beating.
Yesterday a group of Ogra FF’ers tried to hijack the SNA protest. Banners and T-shirts for a photo opportunity.
The parents saw right through it and ran them off, not before several party activists got in to shouting matches with the mothers.
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=689393737752688&set=vb.100000462053828&type=2&theater
These people are standing up to the worst in our society in a very small way. Holding and forcing people to respect others, respect the Irish people, respect our children rather than force them to emigrate as all my own had to.
Look at the arrogance and contempt on their faces as they look at the parents.
What will you do to day or will you lie back and let people like that rule and ruin your future as they have our past and the lives of these women or will you wait your turn.
Cheers for the link, very interesting viewing. Should serve to burnish up the brass neck of the next generation of ffers, I’m sure they’ll get good use from them. Looks to me that they had no intention of moving until the guy in the shirt sleeves landed over, sure why would the opinions of the sheeple matter, right?
They told people to clear a space so that a photo could be taken when Micheal Martin came over.
If they even pretended that they were there for more than the photo shoot it would have been ok. They didn’t were rude to people and it turned in to a PR disaster.
What genius think that having a go at the mother of a Special Needs Kid, at an SNA cut is politically smart.
What’s the bottom line for these women? How much will be creamed off before they see a penny of this money?
This so called scheme pay victims in instalments. And therefore the Government will save money if they die. The average age of these abuse victims is 68yrs old, many ill and frail. This Government have No Morals or values. How low can they go???
Catholic Church and State hand in glove in acting the boxxocks. Is anyone really surprised?
If they got 100,000 each they still wouldnt be happy
And nor should they be as that only represents one years salary for a TD. Compensation has to hurt the offender to prevent future crimes. The equivalent of a TD’s salary per time served in these prisons would be fair.
Compo compo compo
Why should they be ‘happy’, if you were enslaved, tortured, abused and abandoned, by the people who were there to love and care for you how would you feel?
I do believe that many of these women had been misled into thinking that they were in for lottery type money. The overall compensation offered does not seem unreasonable and it should be about providing some physical comforts for the recipients in their least days rather than building a nest egg for a future generation as one of the women complained about.
I wonder if their deal is a good as the one the haemophiliacs got? Seems to be shaping up the same. Wait long enough and the problem goes away. Hard to be ‘proud to be irish’ when you see what the government does and the people think. Over and over and over again! I wonder whats next?
for many of ‘the haemophiliacs’ (nice) the ‘deal’ included a lonely, painful, untimely death. your comparison is simplistic and disrespectful to all parties.
for many of ‘the haemophiliacs’ (nice) the ‘deal’ included a lonely, painful, untimely death. your comparison is simplistic and disrespectful to all parties.
Firstly I was comparing the Tactic used not the suffering endured. But as you mentioned it, with the greatest respect to the Hemophiliacs, no-one has a monopoly on suffering. It is impossible to measure the impact of slavery, physical and mental abuse suffered by those young girls. How many suicides, broken homes, tragedies were as a consequence. And finally the pain inflict on hemophiliacs and there families was we are told accidental. The pain and suffering on the young girls was deliberate, intentional and supported by the state with the general approval of the church going god fearing population. I do not think my comparison is in any way disrespectful or simplistic.
Justice for the Magdalene Survivors , dont give up the fight for proper Justice . The decent people of Ireland are with you all the way , stay strong & never ever give up
Justice or money?
As Justice is unlikely given the governments complicity and the churches power. I think money is the better option. Don’t you?
Bailing out the banks bailing out the church it all lands on our shoulders and our children’s, ridiculous that with all the money of the Catholic Church the Vatican etc that they are not contributing to the hideous crimes committed against these poor women
Coming soon to a mass near you…a special collection for “The Magdalene fund”.
The proceeds of same would probably go towards the RCC’s legal costs in denying any financial or any other responsibility towards these women. A truly sick and twisted mentality is at the heart of the RCC.
The taxpayer is footing the bill here and they have their apology along with a staggered 100k, pensions from the state regardless of current financial status, medical card and extra medical services excetera. Time to get off the stage while sympathy still exists me thinks.
As sorry as I am for these women I can’t help thinking its money over justice they want.
Maybe People should protest at church gates about this ? They should be footing this bill ….
Applying a multiplier to the proses sum of 3.75 would not be generous but it would be getting into the right ball park.
Some of the survivers worked up to twenty years and are treated the same as ladies who worked ten years or less this seems unfair.
what about the women who have died, i have just recently found out my grandmother was in peacock lane laundry, cork all her life, she worked there for over 40 odd years, she died at the age of 81 in 1996, in the residential part.
my father did not know his mother, he was in artane from the age of 8 until his 16 birthday, before that he was in an orphanage and then fostered out. what kind of life did he have, NONE. His mother is now buried with four other magdalene laundry workers, . we cannot claim for her as there is a cut off date of 19 feb 2013.
I cant imagine what my dad and grandma went through, but any money given would help in giving my grandmother her grave and headstone somewhere my dad can finally call his family. one that he never new
Why is redress taking so long to sort it will be nearly a year soon. They seem to be keeping us
on a piece of string.
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