Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire (Cork South-Central, Sinn Fein)

What parents will have heard from the Minister in her response is a lot of reasonableness and trying to empathise with the situation. I suppose that is better than denying there is a problem. The reality for parents on the ground is that reasonable words will not put a single child inside the door of a school. I am dealing with the families of 13 children who do not have a place for this autumn. I was contacted by a parent just last night. One of the things I cannot understand is how we have this debate every year. Every March, April and into May we are talking about this. For neurotypical children in most parts of the county it is not a problem and it carries on, although there are many parts of the education system that could be better for them. Every single year we seem to be in this place where TDs from every part of the country are bringing forward examples of children and families who do not know where they are going. The anxiety, stress and worry that this causes for parents are enormous. They have fear about the impact on their children's potential to achieve the best they can in their lives and reach their full potential. I mean that in the broadest possible sense. Education needs to be about ensuring every child reaches their full potential, no matter what that may be. So much of education now is about careers, opportunities and all that and that is important. However, this is about ensuring children can reach their full potential. I referred to 13 children who do not have a school place at all. The Minister can multiply that by any amount for the children who do not have an appropriate school place, who are in a special class when they should be in a special school or are in mainstream when they should be in a special class, or who are at home when they should be in a special school. It is a profound failure of these children. The problem continues to escalate. While progress in respect of Carrignavar is welcome, there is still a huge amount needed in Cork.

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