“Radical” action needed to fix education in Dublin 15 says Walsh

Castleknock Councillor John Walsh has called on incoming Taoiseach Simon Harris TD to take “urgent action” to improve conditions for students with additional learning needs in Dublin 15.

The Labour Councillor described the situation as a “long-term endemic crisis.”

Walsh, himself an educator aside from his role on Fingal County Council, said that the current system of support for children with additional education needs in Dublin 15 is “fundamentally broken.”

He has called on Harris, who has held the Ministerial brief for Higher Education since 2020, to implement a “coherent, holistic solution” to tackle the crisis in Dublin 15. 

 “Parents should not have to fight for basic educational rights and services for their children. Principals should not have to provide the detailed analysis of the shortfall in school places and services for children with additional needs that should be done by the Department of Education,” Walsh said.

Walsh noted that Government already showed tacit support for plugging gaps in education for people with additional educational needs in the 2019 budget in the form of the school inclusion model.

Published by the School Inclusion Model in 2019, the steering group advised Government on complex educational issues such as this, and the model explicitly called for “sustained support for schools to offer inclusive learning settings.”

Walsh noted that the project has been on ice since 2021 due to a lack of resources and staffing, as well as a lack of political will.

He called on Harris to revive the project when he becomes Taoiseach, starting with suburban areas such as Dublin 15.

“Provision for autistic children and children with other complex additional needs is in crisis. Currently the needs of children with additional needs are being neglected and this neglect is disgraceful,” he said.

A meeting was held by principals, teachers and parents in Dublin 15 recently, with the Dublin 15 Primary Principals Network identifying that at least 13 children in Dublin 15 have no appropriate school placement for Septemeber, 111 children in primary school are struggling to engage meaningfully with staff and peers due to a lack of services and support staff and 68% of primary schools in Dublin 15 have lost special education teachers due to the changes in the SET allocation model.

The meeting included contributions from a school principal, a representative of Autism School Dublin 15 and the National Council for Special Education.

Walsh said “immediate, radical change is needed to fix a broken system and give every child a fair chance to secure education. The current situation cannot simply be allowed to continue year after year.”