Parents of children with additional needs in Finglas have reacted with anger and dismay after being warned that long-awaited special classrooms may not be completed until well into October.
The children were originally due to begin attending two new special classes at Finglas Parochial National School in September 2025.
However, following a series of delays, they spent the last school year receiving their education in a local community hall and attending on a reduced timetable.
The Department of Education has since recognised that arrangement as unsuitable and granted permission for the children to begin Junior Infants again this September.
Their families had expected the new school year to provide a fresh start, with the children finally able to attend a full school day in suitable classrooms at Finglas Parochial National School.
However, parents have now been told that delays to external groundworks around the modular classrooms could prevent the facilities from opening until well into October.
While work inside the modular buildings is understood to be close to completion, the surrounding groundworks remain unfinished.
The groundworks are being overseen by KSNPM, the project management company involved in delivering the modular classrooms.
Parents now fear that their children could face a second September without the classrooms they were promised, with no alternative accommodation or contingency arrangement currently available.
Rebekah Clarke said her family had bought a new uniform for her son Arlo and had been preparing him to begin school properly at the end of August.
“Everyone has been getting ready for the end of August, excited for the relief that it was supposed to bring for us and our children,” she said.
“The uniforms are bought and we have been preparing Arlo to start as he should have last September.
“For Arlo, having routine and certainty is incredibly important and now we are back to square one, full of uncertainty and not sure how we will manage when there is actually no class for him to go to at the end of August.”
Ms Clarke said the delay would affect not only the children’s education and routines but also the ability of their parents to work.
“For parents, this means more time off work, more disruption, using annual leave or sick leave because our children still cannot attend school for the hours almost all other children do,” she said.
“We went through this for the whole of last year and now we are facing the prospect of it happening again. It’s disgusting.
“I genuinely do not believe this would be allowed to happen if these were mainstream classes. Our children deserve the same right to a proper school day and a proper education as every other child.”
The latest setback follows a difficult year for the families, who were forced to campaign publicly after the special classes failed to open as planned last September.
Parents spoke to journalists about the consequences of the delay and allowed their children’s experiences to be placed in the public spotlight in an effort to put pressure on the Government to act.
In the absence of the promised classrooms, the children were accommodated in a community hall.
They attended on reduced hours rather than receiving the full school day available to most other primary school children.
The Department’s decision to allow them to begin Junior Infants again this September was intended to recognise the inadequacy of the educational arrangement provided during the past year.
However, the families now face the prospect of the new school year beginning without either the modular classrooms or the community hall arrangement previously used.
They say no alternative location or timetable has been offered for September if the necessary work remains unfinished.
Paul Larkin said his daughter Abigail will turn seven next month without ever having attended a full day at school.
“My daughter Abigail will be seven this September and she still has not had one full day of school,” he said.
“We have been preparing her for the new school year and now, again, she will not be able to attend when she is due to start.
“We were assured by Minister Moynihan that this issue would be remedied, but yet again our Government are letting down our disabled children.
“To say we are angry and upset is an understatement. We feel that our daughter’s primary needs are insignificant in the eyes of the State because she is being completely let down and abandoned.”
Parents and local campaigners are calling on Minister Moynihan (pictured above) and the Department of Education to intervene immediately and devote whatever resources are necessary to have the classrooms ready when the new school year begins.
They want the Department to consider providing additional contractors, extra funding or longer working hours at the site in order to accelerate the outstanding work.
Rachel Lowry, co-founder of Dublin North West Equality Education, said no obstacle should be allowed to prevent the classrooms from opening in September.
“If additional contractors or funding are needed to complete the groundworks, they should be provided immediately,” she said.
“If working hours on site need to be extended, that should happen. There should be nothing allowed to stand in the way of getting these classrooms open for September.”
The campaigners have also questioned how responsibility is assigned when delays to publicly funded school projects have direct consequences for children and their families.
Independent councillor Conor Reddy (pictured above), a co-founder of Dublin North West Equality Education, said the latest setback raised serious questions about the management and delivery of essential school infrastructure.
“This setback raises serious questions about accountability for companies receiving public money to deliver essential school infrastructure,” he said.
“KSNPM were also involved earlier in this debacle, when significant delays arose around the planning process, totally out of the hands of the school and parents.
“There must be accountability when repeated delays in public projects have such serious consequences, and questions need to be asked about what other public projects companies responsible for these delays are being awarded.”
The concerns expressed by Cllr Reddy are allegations made by the campaigners in response to the latest delay.
Dublin North West Equality Education said the central issue was that the children had already waited an entire year for facilities that should have been available to them last September.
“These classrooms should have been delivered a year ago,” the group said.
“A second September without them is totally unacceptable. We are calling on the Minister to intervene now and ensure every possible measure is taken to get the classes open in September.”
The uncertainty has emerged only weeks before the beginning of the new school year, leaving parents with little time to make arrangements for childcare, employment or alternative educational support.
For children who depend heavily on routine and preparation, families say the lack of a confirmed starting date creates additional difficulty.
Parents had spent recent weeks preparing their children for a return to school, buying uniforms and attempting to build certainty around the change from the community hall arrangement to the permanent school setting.
They are now waiting to learn whether the classrooms will open on schedule, whether temporary accommodation will be provided or whether their children will once again be left without access to a full school day.
Northside People contacted the Department of Education seeking confirmation of the expected completion date, an explanation for the latest delay and details of any contingency arrangements for the affected children.
The Department was also asked what assurances it could give parents that the children would receive a full school day from the beginning of the new term.
No response had been received at the time of going to press.