Sinn Féin TD for Waterford, Conor D. McGuinness, has accused the Government of “wearing parents down” by forcing them to fight for their children’s basic right to education and essential supports.
In an impassioned Dáil speech on special education Deputy McGuinness said the Government’s ongoing failure to plan and deliver suitable school places for children with additional needs had left families across the State exhausted, angry, and disillusioned.
“Every child with additional needs has a constitutional right to education — not just any education, but a suitable and appropriate school place,” he said. “That’s something Deputy David Cullinane and I raised with the Minister of State at the start of this year. Families are doing everything in their power, but they are being failed by this Government.
“In Dungarvan and across Waterford, it took months of campaigning, public protest, sleep-outs and even the threat of legal action before the Government finally moved to act. Parents and guardians had to fight tooth and nail just to be heard. Not every parent has the capacity or strength to take on the State — many are exhausted, dispirited and worn down. The Government is wearing them down, and that is shameful.”
Deputy McGuinness said that during the summer at least 260 children across the State were left without any school place, and while some have since been offered places, many are still without proper provision.
“In some cases, children are being taught in corners, cupboards or corridors. In others, transport has not been provided, meaning that children cannot even attend the hard-fought place their parents secured after months of campaigning. That is not inclusion — it is institutional neglect.”
He said the crisis in special education was part of a much wider pattern of Government failure when it comes to children.
“This is one more issue in a litany of failures where children are routinely denied services, treatments, adequate care and their rights by the State — from healthcare to social care, education and housing. In every area, parents are being forced to campaign, protest and litigate to secure what should be automatic. They are being made to fight the Government rather than being supported by it. That is a disgrace in a modern republic.”
Deputy McGuinness said the Government’s failure was foreseeable and preventable, and was the direct result of a lack of planning and political will.
“Let us not see the same failure repeated next year. The Government must act now — publish the figures, deliver the school places, properly resource schools, and invest in SNAs and SETs so that every child gets the education and support they deserve.”
He concluded:
“The time for excuses is over. Families have done their part. Educators have done their part. It is now up to the Government to do its part — to plan, to deliver, and to finally stop wearing parents down.”
Conor D. McGuinness TD 