Parents demand meeting with Minister within one week as Finglas special classes remain undelivered

Parents of children enrolled in two new special classes promised for September 2025 at Finglas Parochial National School have demanded an urgent meeting with the Minister for Education within one week, following a meeting yesterday evening in the school which exposed ongoing failures to deliver the classes.

The meeting was convened by parents and attended by school staff, local public representatives, Special Educational Needs Organisers (SENOs), and a senior official from the National Council for Special Education (NCSE).

All three TDs for the area, Paul McAuliffe (Fianna Fáil), Rory Hearne (Social Democrats) and Dessie Ellis (Sinn Féin), were in attendance alongside local councillors.

The meeting was chaired by Councillor Conor Reddy of People Before Profit, co-founder of Equality in Education Dublin North-West.

At the meeting, it emerged that the project has stalled because the project management company responsible for the build has not submitted the additional detail requested by Dublin City Council planners. As a result, planning permission cannot be granted and the project cannot move forward.

Parents shared deeply distressing experiences of the impact this delay is having on their families.

Paul Larkin, parent of Abbie, age 6 said: “I am honestly ashamed of our government that they can hide behind the fact that they are opening up so many ASD classrooms when in reality they are just throwing soundbites around because these classrooms are not materialising.”

Marie Conway, mother of Rosie (5), added: “I turned down a full time place in Pals Preschool for Rosie that I fought for two years because I was offered a place in Finglas Parochial.

“This is the first professional help my little girl has received, she is five.

“If this school is not complete in September my biggest fear is Rosie will regress, it’s not good enough. Rosie and all children in her class deserve full school days in the environment most suited to their needs”

Leanne Roche, mother to Logan (6) said:

“It’s deeply worrying and unsettling not knowing when Logan will finally have access to a classroom and a full-time school place like other children his age.

“This uncertainty creates a constant sense of concern, as every day without a structured learning environment feels like a missed opportunity for his development, social growth, and overall wellbeing.

“The lack of clear timelines or assurances makes it incredibly difficult to plan ahead or feel confident about his future, leaving a lingering anxiety that he is not being given the same chances as other children.”

Gillian Fitzgerald, mother to Luke (7) said:  “Luke is 7 in May and this is his 4th school, he was in a full time mainstream class last year.

“We took this place because his needs couldn’t be met there.  We are now worried that after so much missed schooling, he will regress.

“It’s devastating to think your child may fall through the cracks due to what appears to be red tape. We want what every parent wants and what every child deserves, a safe place in a classroom suited to their needs.”

It was indicated at the meeting that the required planning information may be submitted as early as tomorrow.

While this is a positive development, parents and representatives stressed that greater certainty is urgently needed.

Parents are now calling on the Minister to meet with them, alongside representatives from the Department of Education Planning and Building Unit (PBU), the NCSE, and the project management company responsible for delivery.

This request will be issued formally tomorrow, with a call for the meeting to take place within one week.

If no meeting is secured within that timeframe, parents have indicated they are prepared to escalate their campaign, including through protest action.

The NCSE also indicated that, in the event the classes are not delivered by September, it would support the provision of home tuition in addition to the current reduced timetable arrangement in a community hall. This was firmly rejected by parents.

Families pointed to the difficulty of securing home tuition, the unsuitability of the home environment for education, and the clear need for children to access full-time schooling in an appropriate setting.

Speaking after the meeting, Cllr Conor Reddy, co-founder of Equality in Education Dublin North-West, said the situation reflects a broader systemic failure.

“The buck stops with the Minister and the Department.

“Classes should not be sanctioned without a guarantee that they will be delivered. It is wrong to raise parents’ hopes and then leave them in this situation.”

“The Department must take direct responsibility for delivering school building projects.

“Schools are not set up to manage construction or navigate planning processes.

“Their role is to educate children, not to act as developers.”

The group confirmed that they will continue to build pressure in the coming days following national media coverage of the issue, with a clear demand that the classes be delivered this year, not delayed until 2027.