Laois parents hold public meeting in face of school place shortages

A public meeting to highlight the lack of suitable school places for children with additional needs has been set up by families from Laois.

The meeting will be held in Portlaoise Parish Centre on Wednesday November 20 at 6:30pm, and is spearheaded by concerned parents of children with additional needs in Laois and Offaly.

“We are a group of 15 parents who have nowhere to turn, we have no school places for our children come September,” said one mother.

“There are children in mainstream schools who should be in units, and children in units who should be in Kolbe Special School, there is a very strong 'ah, sure they’ll manage,' attitude,” she said.

“It’s admirable when a child successfully integrates from a unit to mainstream school, but many kids cannot acclimatise.
Local political candidates are all making promises, and talking about it for years, but still not doing anything. This year seems particularly bad, it’s a scramble to get places. There are inconsistencies and it doesn't make sense," the mother finished.

Principal of Saint Francis School in Portlaoise, John Moran, recently announced that the Department for Education refused his request for more classroom space, and ordered him to reduce his current class sizes.

"We currently have 19 classes in a school building that was designed for 12 classes," he said.

"We have been granted 4 additional classroom which is currently at planning stage. It will be 2027 at the earliest before these classrooms are built. We applied for  temporary classrooms in 2021 and again in June of this year as we urgently need these while we are awaiting our new building," Mr Moran explained.

This application was refused by letter dated 16^th September 2024 which advised that the school's enrolments should be decreased to 16 classes from the current 19 classes.

"This effects our ability to enrol pupils for the coming years," Mr Moran said.

Pictured: The opening of the new St Francis school building, June 16 2022. 

"We cannot enrol pupils without the classrooms. The refusal by the Department of Education to grant two temporary classrooms needs to be reviewed as it leaves us in a position that we cannot enrol any new students. 

"The decision is  based on figures from 2021, which in no way reflects the current demand for places currently in Laois in the context of the growing population, particularly in the urban centres of Portlaoise and Portarlington," Mr Moran explained.

"The current reality is that the shortage of special school places in Laois is at crisis point. In my view, the following actions needs to happen immediately; the decision not to grant two temporary classrooms to St. Francis School needs to be urgently reviewed. The new building needs to be fast tracked," he said.

"This would only keep us at where we are currently with 45 children currently on our waiting list. There is a need for an urgent government response to the shortage in special school places in Laois – it is what these children and their parents deserve," Mr Moran finished.

Pictured: St Francis School, Portlaoise

One Laois mother within the group has a terminally-ill child with Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy and intellectual disabilities, and has no option but to homeschool her child in the coming school year.

“I have been told to try Kildare and Tipperary for school places, it’s ridiculous,” she said.

“I can’t even get my child into a mainstream school, never mind a unit or St Francis’ or Kolbe,” she said.

Aontú’s Laois General Election Candidate and teacher Mary Hande says her party leader Deputy Peadar Tóibín has written to the Minister for Education Norma Foley and Minister Hildegarde Naughton for immediate clarification.

“This is an incredibly serious matter. Schools throughout Co. Laois are oversubscribed as it is with lengthy waiting lists so any reduction in funding would be hugely problematic,” said Ms Hande. 

“We want immediate clarification from the Ministers involved  as to why they are pulling this accommodation as the stress and worry this uncertainty is causing parents and teachers is dreadful.

Parents are desperately worried and are anxious to get an update and a response to all of the questions we have raised.”

Independent candidate for Laois Elaine Mullally hit out against the Department of Education for their decision to cut back available school places within the special school.

"Families across Laois are facing an education crisis as St. Francis School struggles to accommodate growing numbers of children with additional needs," Ms Mullally said.

"This decision comes at a time when the school already has a waiting list of 45 children for September 2025, with only 12 available places. 

"This means more than 30 children will be left without a suitable school placement in a county already under immense pressure to provide adequate resources for children with additional needs," the candidate argued.

"This setback leaves the school and countless families in an untenable position," Ms Mullally said.

“St. Francis has always gone above and beyond to provide for children with additional needs, but this decision puts an already overstretched system under further strain.”

Laois Sinn Féin candidate for the upcoming general election, Maria McCormack, has pledged support for Laois parents in the face of school place shortages.

“Since my announcement as a candidate, I have been inundated with appeals for help from parents who cannot get a place for their children in their local school," Ms McCormack said.

“One secondary school in Portlaoise has had 351 applications for 1st years, with only 192 places available," she highlighted.

“Parents are being told to appeal to the board of management, but there are just not enough classes and not enough teachers.

"A Sinn Fein led government will funnel the desperately needed funding into our schools in Laois, increasing capacity, trebling the workforce and acquiring the basic necessary resources that our schools have grown accustomed to begging for," Ms McCormack said.

Principal of Heywood Community School, Eamon Jackman, said “we have a long waiting list for students to our special classes for students with Autism and are certainly oversubscribed."

"We held individual meetings with all applicant families last week and they are incredibly concerned,” Mr Jackman concluded.