Réada Cronin (Kildare North, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I raise again the lack of school places across north Kildare and the fact that parents are fed up with the copy and paste replies to parliamentary questions they are getting as to why they cannot send their child to the school they can see from their front doors. The replies state the schools are oversubscribed. The problem is not over-exuberance on the part of parents and their children as regards applications but under-provision by the State. I specifically mention Nicole from Kill. Nicole is autistic and she has severe profound disabilities. She has no secondary school place as the three suitable schools to which her mother Lorraine has applied have no spaces because they are under-provided for by the State. The special educational needs organiser, SENO, has suggested Nicole go to Kilkenny, Wexford, Laois or Carlow. Where is the humanity in putting a non-verbal youngster on a bus for four hours every day? The Department has known since Nicole started primary school that she would need this place, the same as every other child who started primary school that year needs a place. Why did the Department not plan for a place for Nicole?

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