government cutbacks

Claire O’Sullivan, Irish Examiner, Friday, August 27, 2010

PARENTS of special needs children said they face further cutbacks after the Department of Education confirmed children signed up for the free preschool year will have specialist home tuition hours cut. 

 MY name is Stephen and I’m a 14-year-old boy living with a sister who suffers from autism and ADHD.  Life is very hard having a sister with special needs – it’s all about Lorna. 

Inclusion Ireland is co-coordinating a national protest march under the banner ‘People with Disabilities Say No More Cuts!’
 
People with a disability and their families and friend will meet at the Garden of Remembrance at 12pm on Wednesday 7th July, marching down O’Connell Street, before assembling outside Leinster House. 

No Government funding for Kiltimagh facility

By Geraldine Carr

The privately funded Áthas School located in Kiltimagh, which is the only specialised school in Mayo which caters for children diagnosed with an autism disorder, through using applied behaviour analytic services, has implemented cuts across all its staffing hours.

Local politicians criticised cuts in the number of Special Needs Assistants in Longford and Westmeath this week but the exact detail of the cuts remain unclear. The Department of Education and Skills said this week that it is unable to release details with regard to the cutbacks in Special Needs Assistants (SNAs) in Co Longford schools. "The figures relating to the cuts are not available on a regional basis," the spokesperson said.

IN YET another blow to parents of special needs children, The Mayo News has learned that St Brid’s Special School in Castlebar may lose three of its 13 Special Needs Assistants (SNAs) in June next.  St Brid’s caters for almost 25 children with severe, profound and moderate learning difficulties, as well as children with autism, all of whom require care on an almost continual basis.

Niall Murray, Irish Examiner.
Saturday, January 30, 2010

GOVERNMENT policy of integrating children with special needs into mainstream schools will be pointless if there are more cuts to staff helping them in class, a principals’ leader warned yesterday.

Hundreds of special needs assistants (SNAs) who help with physical and behavioural difficulties of thousands of pupils have been made redundant this weekend, in a move described yesterday by Irish Primary Principals Network (IPPN) director Sean Cottrell as a ruthless culling.

Sligo Champion, Wednesday December 30 2009

Family carers across Sligo are outraged and bitterly disappointed that the Government has introduced a blanket 3.9% cut to social welfare payments to all carers.

This equates to a reduction of €8.50 per week or €442 per annum for carers in receipt of the carers allowance, they say.

DOZENS of autistic children will not get specialist trained assistance dogs next year because of Government cutbacks. The Irish Guide Dogs for the Blind (IGDB) said it needs €1.5 million in 2010 to train another 40 assistance dogs for families of children with autism, like it did this year.

PARENTS of autistic children claim there has been a massive increase in the numbers being refused a vital home care allowance since the scheme was taken over by the Department of Social and Family Affairs.

Copyright: Leitrim Observer. Article by: Fiona Heavey. Eleven of Leitrim's most vulnerable Special Needs children will be left out in the cold next week, with no suitable school available for them to attend in the county. Parents of these Special Needs children are facing the prospect that their children who require round the clock care will have no school to attend this year after unofficially learning that the Department of Education refused funding for the basic improvements of Marian College, Mohill which were necessary for the children to move into.

Dear Colleagues,

I would like you to assist me in planning our next DFI Platform meetings. In order to do this I would appreciate if you could respond to the three questions below and return them to me.

1. Firstly, I would like to find out what topics you would like to see on the agenda over the next 12 months.

2. Secondly, I would like to know if the format of meeting 3-times per year in varying locations within the North West region is still feasible? Would another format be more suitable.

Photo: Don Moloney/Press 22. Story Source: Irish Times, 16/7/09.
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Many parents of disabled children who are due to leave school say they will have nowhere to go as a result of health spending cuts, writes CARL O’BRIEN

BREDA PURCELL feels a gnawing sense of worry every time she thinks of her son’s future.

The families of up to 200 Donegal children who suffer from autism are facing an anxious wait over a review which could see an important home help service cut.

Donegal Autism Services provides the Family Support Service to help the development of children with autism. Families who receive the service say it is vital in helping them to manage the strict routines and challenging behaviour of children.