The Newspaper with the
BIGGEST circulation in the North County
Your Quality Local Newspaper We Deliver We deliver
A registered newspaper at the G.P.O.
8th March 2016 • Volume 23, Issue 08 • Leader House, North Street, Swords, Co. Dublin. EirCode: K67 P5W4. • Tel: 01 8•400•200 • info@northcountyleader.ie • www.northcountyleader.ie
Skerries Special School Sidelined
A group of parents from Skerries are up in arms about the state of St Michael’s Special School in Hacketstown, Skerries where children, who have moderate disabilities attend. By Patrick Finnegan
One of the parents, Sara Rock spoke to the County Leader about what she describes as the utterly inadequate facilities at the school, which she and others maintain are not fit for purpose. She said, “My nine year-old son Matthew attends the school and this is his second year there. It’s an old building that was very generously donated by a local landowner 33 years ago as a temporary measure, until a new premises was built for them. Now here we are 33 years later and still no nearer getting a site,” she said. “We have been going back and forth between the Department of Education and the County Council during that time in which they identified a number of sites, but something always cropped up. What we’re wondering is why have there been umpteen Educate Together National Schools built, with extensions to other schools and here we are, pretty well ignored?” “They have built on some prefabs over the years, but that’s not good enough for these children. They need more. Our children are in a
“We need to get someone to push our needs forward and to let the Government and the Department of Education, in particular know that we need a new school urgently.” Sara continued, “We have been on the last two 5 year building lists for schools. We were promised a school by 2011, but that came and went. This promise was put off until this year (2016) and we have Pictured outside St Michael's Special School at Hacketstown, Skerries are parents, Sara just received a letter Rock, Emer Hynes and Yvonne Bissett, who are demanding a new school for the 30 saying that we won’t pupils who attend there be part of this building classroom with other children with moderate plan, but will be included for the one in 2018. disabilities, with two Special Needs Assistants Other parents, Yvonne Bissett and Emer and a teacher in a prefab that is 13 feet wide Hynes, whose son Fionn attends St Michael’s by 15 feet long. Anyone with any sense knows that these children need movement, breaks and freedom to get up and move about. They are cramped in a room that’s not fit for purpose. The teachers are doing an exceptional job, but why should they be forced to work in such conditions,” she said.
Call For Balbriggan To Be Poster-Free posters in the town. A former Balbriggan She was very critical Town councillor has of a new level of intercalled for Balbriggan ference and defacing to be declared an of posters which is a election poster-free ‘new phenomenon’. town for the next She said, “People General Election. were clearly seen Former Cathaoirleach, interfering with Monica Harford posters and cutting contacted the County Monica Harford the cable ties holding Leader about what she terms as “vandalism” that them up on the top part of was evident around election lamp posts, which were left
hanging down in a dangerous way.” “These presented a clear hazard to people with disabilities as they tried to make their way into the town. I know of some disabled people who felt unsafe because of them. The last few days were very windy and these posters, which are quite substantial, could easily blow down and cause serious injury,” she said. Ms Harford said that when she was on Balbriggan Town Council that St George’s Square was always a posterfree area, and she is calling for this to be extended to the whole town.
were in full agreement. Emer said, “We are constantly being knocked back and ignored and we’re just sick of it. The children deserve to be treated better than this, where they don’t have a proper sensory room and the PE room is utterly inadequate. When speech and language therapists come in, there’s not enough rooms for them and they’re fighting to get rooms for their meetings. It’s just a joke. We have been on to all the politicians, but nothing has come of it. Our children are just forgotten,” she said. “As parents we’ve had to start our own lobby group in an effort to be heard. The one point I would like to make is that the PE hall in the school is a converted chicken shed, which was initially attached to the house. There is a strange smell in the place and some of the children are six feet in height and they have to crouch to get about. It’s just so degrading for these children, the most vulnerable in our society, to have to endure such facilities, and nobody seems to care,” the parents said.
Pictured enjoying the Cake Sale and Fun Day at Holy Family National School, River Valley are pupils from 2nd class, with some of the fun characters as they display some of the lovely cakes in the school hall on Friday last. See story on page 3