Despite commitments, Little Angels parents are still in limbo – Pearse Doherty
Last week, desperate parents camped out overnight outside the gates of Leinster House to protest at their children's exclusion and were assured that a resolution would be found by the start of this week
Deputy Pearse Doherty has today raised again in the Dáil the issue of parents whose children have been denied a place at Little Angels Special School in Letterkenny due to the school’s new premises not being big enough.
Last week, desperate parents camped out overnight outside the gates of Leinster House to protest at their children's exclusion and were assured that a resolution would be found by the start of this week.
However, that resolution has not yet been found and as things stand the children remain without a school place for September.
“Last week, mothers from Donegal travelled up here to sleep outside the gates of Leinster House,” Deputy Doherty, the Sinn Féin spokesperson on finance, told Minister for Education Helen McEntee.
“They did so in desperation because their children – ten of them – with additional and special needs do not have a school place in September. There is only one school in the county where they can go and that’s Little Angels.
“It’s over six weeks now since I raised this on the floor of the Dáil with you. It’s a month since I put the proposal to the Minister as to how to resolve this issue with my colleagues, and I’m in regular contact with Minister Moynihan, but these parents still have no certainty.
“The new Little Angels school was built with less classrooms than the existing one. It’s a scandal. And this is despite the growing need for places. But the old school [building] is now going to be left empty. So that needs to be sanctioned to allow these extra ten pupils to receive their education there.”
Addressing Minister McEntee directly, Deputy Doherty said: “So I ask you - can you give any comfort to these families, because it is absolutely cruel that these mothers had to come here last week, were given commitments that they would know early this week and are still in limbo?
“There is specialised equipment that needs to be ordered for these children," Doherty added. "They can’t just walk into school in September. This needs to be sorted because this is a school that could be lying empty in the hands of the State.”
Minister for Education Helen McEntee said she and her Department are working to provide places and the necessary supports.
“To reassure the Deputy, and most importantly the parents and their children, I am working with Minister Moynihan and the NCSE [National Council for Special Education] and Department, will ensure that they will have school places come September,” the Minister said.
“We'll do everything possible to make sure that those places, insofar as possible, are within their communities and that they'll have the right supports and resources when they're in school.
“That's what we have to make sure of. That children can access the supports and the school places that they need in their own communities. That's exactly what we're working towards.”