Special needs school a 'glorified factory'

The Minister for Education, Ms Hanafin, has been asked to meet the parents of 13 special needs children in Co Leitrim who they claim are going to school in a "glorified factory".

The children, aged from five to 15, and who suffer from a range of intellectual and physical disabilities, attend classes at the Drumshambo Enterprise Centre which also houses a number of businesses.

The children, who come from all over Co Leitrim, are in the outreach classes attached to St Joseph's special needs school at Ballytivnan, Co Sligo.

Some of the children are in wheelchairs and some are in nappies. But parents claim there is no hot water available in the building and no heating in the toilet area where the children are changed.

"There are mice running around the floor," said Ms Catherine Lynch, chairwoman of the parents' association. "My daughter has to be fed through a tube and I dread to think what infection she could pick up if that tube fell on the floor."

Ms Lynch and her husband, Francis, have two children, David (12) and Lorraine (6), in the school. Both have cerebral palsy and are in wheelchairs but the only ramp at the building is at an entrance which is permanently locked.

"Our children cannot speak and we sometimes feel that we have let them down," said Catherine. She and her husband won the Leitrim People of the Year Award two years ago because of their dedication to their children.

"This was meant to be a temporary solution to an accommodation problem but this is their third year in the enterprise centre," said Ms Lynch.

"The conditions are appalling especially for children with special needs."

She said that one of the biggest worries for parents was security as anyone can walk in and out of the centre and there is a constant flow of people doing business with the other companies there.

Another parent, Mr Hubert McCormack from Drumshanbo, agreed that security is the biggest worry.

"My daughter is eight but her development has been delayed and she would take anyone's hand and go with them," he said.

The parents stress that the four teachers at the centre do a magnificent job in very difficult circumstances. They also pointed out that their complaints were not directed at the enterprise centre, which took the children in when they had nowhere else.

"It's a first class facility for industrial purposes but not for children who are special," said Mr McCormack. "There is no natural light in one of the classrooms but that's because it is not meant to be a classroom."

Mr McCormack, who wrote to the Minister last month outlining the problems at the centre, said that if a fire started there he would be very concerned about the children's safety.

"I say that not just because some are in wheelchairs or find it hard to move but because so many just wouldn't understand if the teachers were trying to rush them out."

He said there has already been a situation where a child wandered outside and was found at the side of a busy road.

Efforts to contact Mr Joe Hargadon, chairman of the board of management at St Joseph's School in Sligo, for comment failed.

The principal of the school, Ms June Coulter, said it was for the board to comment.

A spokesperson for the Department of Education said they will be sending an official to assess the conditions in the school.

The condition at the "school" was discussed at a public meeting in Drumshanbo and this week members of Leitrim County Council unanimously voted to appeal to the Minister to meet a deputation of parents.

Fianna Fáil councillor Mr Francis Gilmartin, who raised the issue, said what was needed ultimately was a green field site where a purpose-built school could be established.

"This is a glorified factory and no child, especially one with special needs, should have to go to school in a factory," he said.