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Special kids need a ‘fighting chance’

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Conor Howard joins with members of the Clare Special Needs Parents’ Support Group in Ennis on Wednesday in protest against proposed cuts to special needs education. Photograph by Declan Monaghan

‘HEY, Quinn, leave our kids alone’. That was the strong message shouted through the streets of Ennis as parents of children with special needs and their supporters marched in protest over cuts to education resources.

They have vowed to continue their fight until their voices are heard by Education Minister Ruairí Quinn.
Wednesday’s protest march saw around 100 people take to the streets demanding that the Government’s cap on the numbers of special needs assistants (SNAs) in schools be lifted and that no further cuts be made to resource teaching hours.

Minister Quinn earlier this week reversed a decision to cut resource teaching hours to school children with special needs by 10%, following a backlash by parents and teachers.

However, the u-turn did not stop the Clare Special Needs Parents Support Group’s planned protest, with ­organisers saying it is important to send out a clear message to Government and fight for the rights of vulnerable children to ensure their futures.

The Ennis protest was the first of a series of events in towns and cities held across the country. Speaking at the march, parent Catherine Bourke, whose eight-year-old son, Jack, has Autistic Spectrum Disorder, said without the support of an SNA, her son “doesn’t have a chance”.

“He needs a full-time SNA in school. Without a full time SNA, he doesn’t have a chance, he really and truly doesn’t. We cannot see secondary school, we can’t see third class, we can’t see fourth class. We don’t know from week to week how it is going to go and he needs the support and we’re just not getting it.

“He just needs a fighting chance and, unfortunately, he is just not getting it,” she said.

She appealed to the education minister to listen to the parents and remove the cap on SNAs, not only for the benefit of her own child but for all children.

“There are new kids being diagnosed on a daily, weekly basis. We need hours for those children and we’re not going to get them if the cap on SNAs of 10,725 remains. We need that to change. Ruairí Quinn maintains there is no cuts but he is not making allowances for new kids that are going to be diagnosed. “We are hoping that he will see that we have a voice and we will be heard and we are not going to stop until we are heard.”

As well as the march, a petition was handed to the council offices and TDs. “We are asking them to fight with us. We are all fighting together, the one cause and for everybody’s children,” said Catherine.

Among the protesters was parent Eimear Sutton Horan, who came out in solidarity even though her own children do not need an SNA.

“I’m doing this for social ­inclusion, for every other child. Every child has the same feelings, they have the right to education and they have the right to be included within education,” she said.

“I asked my own child this morning about the SNA that helps two children in her class. I asked her did she like her being there and she said ‘yes, if I fall she will help me’. If she gets stuck and she is sitting next to the child with the SNA, naturally the SNA will assist her. So overall it’s benefiting every single child within that classroom.

“The Government are trying to promote social inclusion and the term social justice in the long term but they are not willing to put the resources in place to get this.

“At the end of the day, it’s the children now who are going to lead us into the future so we need to pump the resources in now.

“I totally understand that there is a deficit of budget  but we’re in debt anyway. We need to put the resources in to create a very educated workforce for years to come,” she said.

Also showing his support was James Ferns, whose SNA wife has lost her job. “Obviously, I am here to support more work for SNAs but mainly this is about the kids. At the end of the day, it is kids that are suffering.

“The ones that need the help can’t stand up for themselves and I think it’s a disgrace that they are losing hours. I am hoping more people will talk up about this. Hopefully, something will be done because it’s the kids that will suffer in the long run.”

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