The Minister for Education has said that children denied places at the Little Angels Special School in Letterkenny will be facilitated in September.
Minister Helen McEntee was speaking in the Dáil today when she said that she is working with Minister of State for Special Education, Micheal Moynihan, to address the issue faced by the families of nine children in Donegal.
The Minister said they are working with the National Council for Special Education and the Department, to ensure that they will have school places in September.
“We will do everything possible to make sure that those places, insofar as possible, are within their communities, that they have the right resources and supports when they are in school,” said Minister McEntee.
The comments came as Donegal Sinn Féin TD Pearse Doherty spoke of desperate parents camping out overnight outside the gates of Leinster House to protest for their children’s rights to education.
Deputy Doherty told Minister McEntee: “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 is now going to be left empty. So that needs to be sanctioned, Minister, to allow these extra ten pupils to receive their education there.
“So I ask you, Minister, 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. They can’t just walk into school in September.”
Deputy Doherty added: “This needs to be sorted because this is a school that could be lying empty in the hands of the state.”
Members of the ‘Don’t Forget Our Little Angels’ campaign are planning a local protest this Sunday over their frustration awaiting a response from the Department of Education.
