'Incredible' - Department has no central record of available special school places

The fact that the Department of Education does not have a central record of available special school places for children with additional needs is astounding.

That’s according to Aontú Rep Mary T Sweeney, who says that in response to Parliamentary Questions put in by her party leader, Peadar Tóibín, the Minister of State at the Department of Education, Michael Moynihan, has confirmed that no central record is kept.

She says: “This is incredible. Does the Department not think that children with special needs deserve to have a centralised, accessible database?

"Families in Donegal with children with special needs have to fight for every single right they have. It is a constant battle and a constant challenge, and it appears that the Dept of Education, instead of actually fulfilling its duty to children with special needs, is actually putting more and more obstacles in their way.

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"So many children about to exit primary school and enter secondary this year still don’t know if they have school places or not come September. This is putting inordinate stress and strain on families, who quite frankly have enough to be dealing with.

"We are now asking the Minister of State at the Dept of Education if his department will commit to an audit of the actual figures of children currently waiting for a placement in each county per year. It is imperative that these figures are know to get the true grasp of how many children are currently waiting”.