Feb 12, 2025, Irish Examiner: Parents protest over lack of spaces at special school
Parents took to the streets of a Waterford town on Wednesday as part of a peaceful protest to highlight the 20 families waiting for spaces in the special school.
As previously reported by the Irish Examiner, students from West Waterford, Cork, and South Tipperary are waiting for spaces at St John’s Special School in Dungarvan.
The school operated a draw for the eight places it has available for this September, overseen by a local Garda superintendent.
Rebecca Meehan, whose four-year-old son, Jay, is on the list and left without a school place, repeated her calls to the National Council of Special Education (NCSE) and the Department of Education to sanction modular classes for September.
“This is just a temporary solution,” she said.
“Long term, the school needs a greenfield site to accommodate the increasing number of students who need a place.
"The opening of classes for September is a band-aid, really.”
“There are 20 families involved in Dungarvan, but this is a national crisis, and we need to do more for special schools.
As it stands for 2025, we have nowhere else to go so we need the Department of Education to act fast.
Jay, who is autistic and pre-verbal, has been recommended to attend a special school as he has highly complex needs.
His family has been told to apply “everywhere” for a school place for September including to special schools in Waterford and Cork, over a one-hour drive away.
The shortage of special education spaces across Waterford city and county did not happen overnight but it has now reached crisis level, according to Sinn Féin TD for Waterford, Conor McGuinness.
Given the limited spaces and high demand, the school was forced to pick names at random through a lottery and to create a waiting list, he added.
“No school, principal or team should be put in that position. . . .
A spokesman for the Department of Education said the NCSE is in the process of sanctioning new classes for the upcoming school year.
It is anticipated that new special classes in the Dungarvan area will be sanctioned in the coming weeks, he added.
"The department will continue to work with the NCSE to identify future requirements for additional special school capacity across the country, including in Waterford, and to put any required solutions in place, including for the 2025/26 school year.
"The NCSE have engaged with St John's Special School and at local level will continue to support parents to secure placements for children in the area."
A number of strategic initiatives have been introduced which has seen the number of special classes approximately double over the last five years, the spokesman said.
"There are now over 3,300 special classes available nationwide, including 70 special classes across schools in Co Waterford. This includes 12 of new classes for the current year."
A spokesperson for Minister of State and Waterford TD John Cummins said: “Minister Cummins met with Education Minister Helen McEntee this evening to discuss the shortage of places for children with additional educational needs in Waterford.
“The availability of appropriate and sufficient places for students with additional needs is an issue which the minister is very passionate about.
“He has been working with individual parents, schools, the NCSE and the Department of Education over a prolonged period of time on this issue.
“In recent weeks he has met again with the NCSE and today with Minister McEntee on the provision of interim modular accommodation for St. John’s special School and other schools across Waterford city and county.
“It’s anticipated that new special classes across Waterford will be sanctioned in the coming weeks.”
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