“The school has been let down by the Minister and her government"

Labour TD Ged Nash has slammed the Minister for Education and the current government for landing a local school in a “wholly unnecessary crisis” and denying it the Special Needs Assistant it has proven it needs.

Deputy Nash explained: “Marymount National School in Ballsgrove has been thrown into a crisis through no fault of its own and the Minister for Education and this FF and FG government have to step up and do what’s right.

“I was recently contacted by the principal of Marymount NS and local parents who told me that despite the National Council for Special Education recommendation that the school requires additional SNAs to support students with proven needs, a hidden and apparently arbitrary national cap on the recruitment of Special Needs Assistants has blocked the move.

“Since then, my office has been inundated with expressions of concern from parents with children at the school.”

“This government says it is committed to supporting students with special needs but in reality, they are putting hidden barriers in place that are stopping schools recruiting the specialist staff they need.”

The Labour TD explained: “I submitted a Parliamentary Question on the plight of Marymount NS to the Minister for Education and I was shocked when the response failed to deal with the specifics of my question or give any reassurance to the Drogheda school.

“Instead, what I got from the Minister was waffle and evasion and a rehash of what the government is doing in the sector that will mean nothing to the affected families with children who need that SNAs, now.”

Deputy Nash said: “The Minister and her Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil colleagues have to step up to the plate, here. Some arbitrary, unofficial cap that the Minister can’t seem to admit is in place, cannot get in the way of this school getting the SNAs that the system has proven it needs. This is not only a problem for Marymount but for other local schools too.

“The school has done everything expected of it and has been let down by the Minister and her government who must address this wholly unnecessary crisis, now.”