Parents of children and young adults with intellectual and physical disabilities held separate protests in Counties Sligo and Dublin yesterday over the State's failure to provide services based on the individual assessment of their needs.
The parents of 13 school leavers who had been attending St Cecilia's Special School, located between Sligo town and Rosses Point, held a demonstration over the Department of Education's refusal to grant the young adults places at the centre this year on the grounds that they were aged 18 or over.
Ms Mary Rooney, chairwoman of the parents' group, said the young people should not have to move out of the school until they were ready, and "they're not ready because they did not get the education they were entitled to as a constitutional right".
Four of the young people were brought to the school yesterday by their parents who demanded they be kept on.
Ms Rooney, whose 19-year-old son was among those affected by the Department's decision, said an alternative educational scheme, which would be operated by the local health board, had been proposed last week without consultation with parents, or an assessment of individual needs.
She said parents should not be forced to accept this and the young adults should stay on the roll of St Cecilia's for a further year until an agreed alternative programme was found. Such a programme should include the individual assessment of pupils by an independent educational psychologist, said Ms Rooney. In a statement, the Department said it was committed to providing funding for appropriate education facilities for the young people involved. However, it said, it only had a responsibility to provide education services for special needs pupils from 14 to 18 years.
Meanwhile, in Dublin, a week-long protest over services at St Vincent's Developmental Education Centre at Navan Road intensified yesterday when parents held a meeting with the Taoiseach, Mr Ahern, at his constituency office.
The protesters were joined by the disability rights campaigner Ms Kathy Sinnott, who said the Departments of Education and Health had chosen to adopt a narrow and erroneous view of the extent of children's constitutional rights to education. "Teaching is only a component of that right. Therapy, health care and medical treatment are other aspects. Children are entitled to whatever it takes to get them to learn."
Rather than "sqeezing" children and employees into pre-ordained policy, she said services should be provided on the basis of individually-assessed needs.
Parents at the centre began protesting last week over what they perceive as a reduction in health care services in favour of educational services. The shift to a curriculum-based service will mean children spending more time at home, thereby putting greater strain on parents, according to the protesters.
A Government spokeswoman said the parents' discussions with the Taoiseach would feed into a planned meeting on St Vincent's tomorrow between Ministers and Ministers of State at the Department of Education and Health.
