Hope has been expressed in Clare than an agreement can be reached to allow special schools and classes for students with special needs to re-open.
Disability groups are meeting with the Education Minister this afternoon, after a Government u-turn led to frustration amongst thousands of families last week.
Disability groups are calling on the Education Minister to reopen special schools and classes for children with special needs.
They say the families of the over 30 thousand children have been affected by the lack of support after the Government u-turn, which saw plans withdrawn for those children to be accommodated in schools this week.
They’re concerned that some children may regress, and hope that talks involving the Education Minister today may provide a solution.
The Sinn Féin President has criticised the Government for it’s failure to consult with various stakeholders before making decisions on schools last week, saying that level of what she called “chaos” must be avoided in the future.
Mary Lou McDonald has told Clare FM’s Morning Focus that children and young people must return to education as a matter of urgency, but she says that will require planning now, to ensure adequate resources are in place.
The Secretary of Ennis Voices for Autism is also hitting out over a lack of planning by the powers that be to allow special schools to remain open, even with strict restrictions.
Gearoid Manion, who has two primary school aged children with autism says it’s having a big impact on families.
Disability groups are currently meeting with on the Education Minister on this matter.
A Clare-based Board member of the National Association of Boards of Management in Special Education and former Principal of St Joseph’s Secondary School, Spanish Point, Mary Crawford is optimistic that a way will be found to get children with additional needs back into schools, even if that doesn’t happen straight away.
