St Killian's Special School in Cork may be added to therapy pilot project
Killian's Cummins Cork, School, Lacked School For St Years Four Picture: larry Therapists Has In
Munster’s largest special school, which has been without in-school therapists for four years, could be among 10 schools added to a pilot project next month.
Anne Rabbitte, the minister of state for disability, told the Dáil that 10 schools will be selected at that point for inclusion in an extension of the in-schools therapies pilot project, from which St Killian's in Cork was initially excluded.
The school has 104 students from all over Munster, 79 of them with a dual diagnosis of autism and mild-to-moderate intellectual disabilities.
Many have further diagnoses, including ADHD, dyslexia, and complex medical needs, and several are non-verbal.
Parents and students protested at the school gates in August over the lack of therapists and their exclusion from the pilot project.
Solidarity TD Mick Barry, Fianna Fáil TD Pádraig O’Sullivan, and Sinn Féin TD Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire raised the St Killian’s issue with Ms Rabbitte on Wednesday and urged action.
Mr Barry said: “These kids urgently need therapy to fulfil their full potential in life.
Ms Rabbitte said the €150,000 funding she pledged to the school last year to hire private therapists was not released after concerns about this approach were raised by the HSE and the Department of Education, and the pilot project emerged from later discussions.
“I had hoped, I most certainly had hoped, that St Killian’s would be part of the initial six schools announced but unfortunately this decision was not something within my gift alone,” she said.
She also said the Government supports the use and State funding of available private therapy capacity, but only for schools in the pilot project.
St Killian's principal Sue Lenihan welcomed the minister's comments but sounded a note of caution.
"The position for us remains the same. We're not on the pilot," she said.
"We're strongly hopeful that all the work the parents in the school have put in puts us on the list of schools to be picked but there are a lot of schools hoping the exact same. All the children in special schools need therapeutic intervention."