Louise O'Reilly (Dublin Fingal, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

On after-school care for children with additional needs, the norm for most families is that when kids finish in the crèche and go to school, they transfer to a mainstream school with after-school care in a private crèche or other facility. However, many parents in my constituency who have children with additional needs are being advised by a private childcare provider that they cannot keep their kids there unless they can have an SNA. We were advised to go to the special education needs organiser, SENO, which we did. The SENO said it is nothing to do with them and sent us back to the HSE. Are there any supports in place in this regard? The irony is when the kids go to secondary school, they will have an SNA for the full duration of the day. However, any parents now face taking their kids out of after-school care because they cannot afford to provide SNAs. For many, this will mean having to give up work. Nobody wants to see that happen for want of a small amount of support for children with additional needs to access after-school care.

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