Minister’s response to new special school policies described as ‘insulting’ and ‘upsetting’ by Wexford councillors

By Simon Bourke, Wexford People

Efforts to prevent Wexford children with mild to general learning disabilities (MGLD) from being forced to attend mainstream schools have been met with an “insulting” response from the Minister for Special Education and Inclusion. In May of this year, the National Council for Special Education (NCSE) issued a letter to 30 special schools in Ireland, including Our Lady of Fatima Special School in Wexford town, informing them that children would no longer be able to travel to a special school if a mainstream school in their locality could facilitate them.

As a result of this, many children who would have attended Our Lady of Fatima, where they would receive specialised one-to-one assistance from teachers, may now be forced to go to mainstream schools in their area.

Opposing this directive, councillors in Wexford submitted two motions in July requesting that Minister Michael Moynihan intervene on behalf of Our Lady of Fatima’s and special schools all over Ireland. The first of these motions, submitted by councillors Leonard Kelly and Tom Forde, states that the new directives “fail to account for the diverse needs of students in special education settings” and that “schools supporting students with MGLD are at risk of losing flexibility in delivering life skills-focused programmes and face additional pressures that undermine inclusive education” if the directives are enforced.

"Special schools require tailored structures, not one-size fits all policies designed around mainstream models,” the motion reads. “It threatens to dilute the quality and appropriateness of education for students who benefit most from structured, specialised, and supportive learning environments.”

Cllrs Kelly and Forde called upon Minister Moynihan to “suspend the implementation” of these new directives, “engage in meaningful consultation with affected stakeholders”, .and “protect the autonomy and integrity of special schools serving children with MGLD and other additional needs”.

In addition, also in July, Cllr Vicky Barron asked the Department of Education to provide the “empirical evidence” being used to support the proposed re-designation of special schools.

A response to these motions was circulated to councillors at the October meeting of Wexford County Council. Sent by Minister Moynihan’s private secretary, it said that the minister and the department are “committed to delivering an education system that is of the highest quality and where every child and young person feels valued and is actively supported and nurtured to reach their full potential.”

"It’s important to note that it is not the intention to exclude children who require a special school place from accessing certain special school settings, but rather allow children with complex educational needs apply to their local special school,” it continued. “Currently there are instances whereby children with complex needs cannot apply for admission to their local special school simply because they don’t meet the narrow designation of that special school.

"In that regard, along with providing additional special school capacity, my department and the NCSE consider that it is necessary to look at the profile of our existing special schools. This is not a new departure. The NCSE report that over half of MGLD special schools have diversified to allow children with more complex needs in their communities who require a special school setting to enrol in their local special school.

“Students already enrolled in these schools will not be impacted and any change in designation will be gradual and will relate to new admissions only.”

Reacting to the minister’s reply, Cllr Aoife Rose O’Brien said she was “deeply upset” by what had been sent to WCC. She was supported by Cllr Mary Farrell.

“The response we have received is outrageous, it states that his intention is not to exclude children with complex needs from applying to their local school, this is an insult to the families of those children,” said Cllr Farrell. “I’m on the board of management of a school and it was asked only two weeks ago to open up a special classroom for next year; the deadline it was given was not possible, they’re asking schools to do this without committing to additional supports.

"The minister is basing his guidelines on numbers not needs. Can we respond to this and inform him his reply was not only inadequate it was insulting?”

“I’m really disgusted by this,” added Cllr Vicky Barron. “But it’s not something that can be changed at council level, fundamentally the issue lies with the NCSE and its budget-cutting measures. We asked specifically for the empirical evidence, but there is no evidence, empirical or otherwise.”

In a departure from normal practise, councillors submitted an emergency motion in which they expressed their disappointment at Minister Moynihan’s reply.