Parents have begun camping outside Department of Education in protest over a lack of school places for children with additional needs.
The demonstration marched and chanted, demanding their children’s right to an education be fulfilled.
At the Department of Education on Marlborough Street, the 24-hour sleep out began with emotional stories of the struggles faced by parents trying to access services vital for their child’s development.
They criticised the long wait to get assessments of need, which are required before they can apply for school places and access other services.
They also called for an end of the use of seclusion and restraint on children, and to abolish the means test for carers.
Protest organiser Charlotte Cahill addressed her five-year-old daughter Cyra and said she had been “let down” by a system that had “stolen your rights and denied you of the education you deserve”.
Charlotte Cahill holds a sign up with a photo of her five-year-old daughter Cyra (PA)
She said: “To our leaders, let me be clear, we do not want to hear another state apology years from now for the neglect of our children.
“We do not want our children to become the next scandal, the next shameful chapter in Irish history of institutional failures. Our children deserve better. They deserve an education system that values them for who they are, a system that supports their potential instead of shutting doors in their faces.”
Rebecca Meehan, mother of Jay, five – who is autistic, said she had applied to one school in Dungarvan, Co Waterford, and she would be buying that uniform for her son.
“My son will walk through those gates come hell or high water in September,” she said.
She also called on everyone in society to fight for children with additional needs and their right to an education.
She said: “I’m not just calling out the government here today. I’m calling out the aunts, the uncles, the grandparents, the people that we meet every day that don’t understand our children and that choose to say ‘I don’t know how you do it’.
“Well we wouldn’t have to do it if you just understood and fought for our children the same way we’d fight for yours.”
She added: “It’s time for everybody else who doesn’t have a child like ours to stand with us too, because this is an absolute disgrace that our children would be treated as second class citizens in this country, and it needs to stop.”
Nicole Hosford holds up a sign of her daughter Libbycrae (PA)
Cork hairdresser Nicole Hosford said that when her four-year-old girl was diagnosed with autism, “no-one told me what it meant” or “what was ahead of me for the rest of my life”.
She said she and her husband, who is a barber, had no choice but to set up their own salon business because they “didn’t know what to do”.
She added: “And then it came to education, and I thought, sure, once she goes in, she’ll be fine, she’ll be educated.
“If our children don’t get school, they’re going to regress… they go back to being babies again. Then after primary school, we have to fight again for secondary school, and that’s not fair.
“I have a six-year-old daughter, and I didn’t even have to apply for school for her. She just went in the doors. I bought her a uniform, she went.
“I don’t know if I have to buy a uniform for my child in September, and that’s not fair.”
Sarah Hennessy, who lives in Co Laois, said her son Freddie is autistic and non-verbal.
“From the day he was born, both myself and my husband have had to fight and advocate for him and his rights,” she said.
She said they had applied for school placements across three different counties for her son, and has been refused so far.
She said that her experience of being a mother has been “a heartbreaking one” because of the fight to access services and it was “lonely and isolating” to witness your child being failed.
“The fact that I cannot guarantee my son an education breaks my heart. I want to be at the school gates with all the other parents. I want to take photos of my child in his new school bag and his new uniform, and sobbing my eyes out because my baby has grown up so fast.
“I want to be excited to collect him and cuddle him and learn all about his first day of school. But that’s not going to be the case for many of us.
“Please stop failing the most vulnerable children of our society. They deserve inclusion, not exclusion.”
Organisers of the demonstration said there are now almost 200 children from around the country who have not yet been given a school place ahead of September.
People Before Profit TD Richard Boyd Barrett said it was “shameful” that parents had to sleep out in order to vindicate the rights of their children.
“In one of the richest countries in the world, a country that has record budget surpluses, they more money than they know what to do with, and yet they can look after the basic rights of children to an education and to their legal right to have the support necessary for them to participate equally in our society.”
The Department of Education said in a statement that Minister for Education Helen McEntee and junior minister Michael Moynihan are “aware” of the demonstration taking place.
“I am determined that every child be supported to achieve their full potential within our education system and I want to reassure parents that we are doing everything possible to ensure there are enough places to meet their children’s needs,” Ms McEntee said.
“I have met with the National Council for Special Education (NCSE) twice since being appointed Minister for Education and I have been briefed on their ongoing engagement with parents involved in this demonstration.
“I am also open to meeting with the parents to hear their concerns.
“The NCSE is continuing to work closely with the parents in identifying and securing education placements appropriate to their children’s needs for September 2025.
“I’ve also instructed the NSCE to identify the needs for the 2026/27 school year this year.
“This week 218 new special classes were sanctioned by the NCSE across the country and more will follow imminently.
“I am committed to opening additional special classes and special schools, expanding the number of SNAs and special education teachers, and expanding the resources available to special schools.
“I have also committed to introducing a common application system for children applying for special education places, which has the potential to be a game changer for parents who need the information about their child’s place as early as possible in the year.
“I have asked the NCSE to let me know as a matter of urgency if the legislative provisions introduced in 2022 which allow me to compel schools to open special classes is required, and if so I will not hesitate to use those powers to ensure sufficient places are available for September 2025.”