LOCAL politicians have raised concerns in the Dáil that Limerick secondary schools are not sufficiently funded to open new special or additional needs classes.
Labour Party TD Conor Sheehan said this week during a debate on special education that there are issues with space, staffing, resources, and appropriate sensory spaces, among other things, in local schools.
The majority of our traditional schools, Deputy Sheehan claimed, do not have the appropriate facilities for spaces that they need, like sensory spaces, to enable children with additional needs to thrive in a mainstream environment.
“I am slightly concerned about the Common Application System being seen as a panacea. It has been in place for secondary schools in Limerick for more than 20 years, and we consistently have an issue every year with schoolchildren not getting places,” Deputy Sheehan told the Dáil.
Regarding the provision of in-school therapists, Deputy Sheehan said that a number of principals in Limerick have told him that they are concerned about the number of in-school therapists proposed.
“I note there is a pilot coming for Limerick and Tipperary this year. One principal told me he is slightly worried they could be too sparsely spread and there is a concern they may see the in-school therapist maybe one day a week over three weeks. That is what principals have told me,” he said.
Limerick Sinn Féin TD Maurice Quinlivan also called for more to be done to ensure that all children with additional needs have access to education and all necessary additional supports.
“The foundation of everything is education. It opens doors and it is a right of every child to have access to education. But not all children are being guaranteed that right. Not all children have the resources they need to achieve all they can at school. The INTO have cautioned that there is no guarantee of the supply of special education and play areas and that such funding needs to be guaranteed,” Deputy Quinlivan said.
Highlighting the challenges faced by parents of children with additional needs, the Limerick Sinn Féin TD added that “parents of children with additional needs must fight for, fret over, and compete for supports for their children”.
“It is a battle to get a diagnosis, it is a battle to get a school place. A failure in early diagnosis has a knock-on impact on accessing necessary educational supports,” he concluded.
