A PRIMARY SCHOOL in Kildare is facing an uphill battle to get more special education supports for its students, with the National Council for Special Education (NCSE) arguing its targets have been met even though the school has had to turn away students who need extra support. 

Scoil Mochua in Celbridge, Kildare, has approximately 700 students but just three special needs assistants (SNAs).

School principal Catherine Carragher told The Journal that these three SNAs are shared among 48 children.

The school applied to increase its SNA allocation this year, but it was refused. It is currently awaiting the result of an appeal of this decision. 

Another issue the school has been dealing with is the fact that it does not have a much-needed autism class. 

“It’s absolutely astonishing in this day and age,” Carragher told The Journal.

As a result of this, the school has had to turn away siblings of students already enrolled.

“They’ve had to go to other local schools that have special classes. So the kids are in two different schools simply because we can’t open a special class.

“It’s a total nightmare for parents,” Carragher said.

She explained that green space is available beside the school property that would be suitable for expansion, but that due to an ownership issue, the land, which has been vacant and maintained by the school for 40 years, cannot be built on.

The school has been waiting for years for the land to be transferred into the ownership of Kildare County Council, a process which has involved the Chief State Solicitor’s Office and Tailte Éireann, but now appears to have reached a dead end.

The school was told by Kildare County Council in May of this year that while it continues to explore options to have the land vested to the Council, it has not yet found a solution.

‘We were told the target had been met’ 

As a result of the land issue, the school’s management sought to find a workaround solution and progressed plans to alter an existing resource classroom into an autism class. 

After getting initial sign-off from the NCSE and consulting an architect, the school was told during the Easter holidays last year that the Minister for Education had reached her target of 400 special classes and that the new room would not be sanctioned for 2025.

Carragher told The Journal that while the target may have been met at a national level, at a local level, there are still children who do not have access to appropriate school places.

Raising the issue in the Dáil recently, Social Democrats TD for Kildare North, Aidan Farrelly, summed up the issue by saying: “We have probably the only school in Ireland that wants to open these classes and it is being told ‘No’.” 

Carragher told The Journal: “We have been let down by the NCSE in terms of future planning, in terms of support with the ongoing land issue, and in terms of a wholly inadequate level of SNA support to cater for the needs in our large school.

“Our children are being badly let down by a poorly resourced system, and the effects will be far-reaching and long-lasting.”

Carragher has also written directly to the Minister for Education, Helen McEntee, about the issue. 

When contacted by The Journal, a spokesperson for the Department of Education said the NCSE is currently looking at what schools may get a special class for the 2026/27 school year.

It said the NCSE prioritises schools that have available accommodation to accommodate a new special class.

The spokesperson did not offer any clarity on the specific land issue affecting Scoil Mochua.