The lack of support for families seeking special needs education supports in South Tipperary has been described as shocking.
At present there is no Special Needs Education Organiser in the south of the county with the
Deputy Mattie McGrath raised the issue in the Dáil this week where he stressed that families seeking education and support are without access to the essential service even though the SENO in North Tipp is covering as much as possible.
“Given the rising number of those seeking special needs education with special needs supports and the importance of the access for parents to their SENO’s it’s a shocking situation that we don’t have a SENO in South Tipperary.
“The length of Tipperary is 115 miles and its just not possible for the SENO in North Tipp to provide that service. Parents are being frustrated and above all children with those needs are not being looked after in a timely way.”
Responding in the Dáil Minister Michael McGrath said he was aware of the need for SENO’s and committed to taking up the issue.
“We have increase resources for the National Council for Special Education (NCSE) in the most recent Budget and I know that will result in an increase in the number of SENO’s all over Ireland. So if you want to provide me with the specifics of that case in South Tipperary we will take it up.
“There is a new CEO in charge of the NCSE and as I say they have been given resources now to increase the number of SENO’s in the country so hopefully that will help to resolve the issue in South Tipperary.”
