James Mc Donagh, father of special needs child, Angel Mc Donagh, made national headlines when he and his daughter were thrown out of the Green Party special conference last month when he tried to raise the issue of the State’s failure to provide the educational and housing needs his daughter requires.

Today Mon Nov 2nd at 11.30am, James Mc Donagh, father of 11 year old, Angel Mc Donagh, a special needs child who has been denied schooling for over a year, will take his daughter to St Michael’s House in Rathgar (17 Grosvenor Rd) in an effort to enrol her as we was instructed to do by the Department of Education.

Pictured above: Angel McDonagh

St Michael’s House has already claimed to Mr Mc Donagh, and recently in a public statement on the matter, that it cannot enrol Angel because it lacks the resources as a result of under-funding and recent cutbacks.
The Department of Education, on the other hand, has rejected the claims of St Michael’s House and stated that the school should be in a position to enrol Angel.
Angel Mc Donagh suffers from closed Spina Bifida, Global developmental disorder and ADHD and has been out of school for the last year because all the special needs schools that her father has attempted to enrol her in have said they lack the resources to provide for her education needs.

CLLR Richard Boyd Barrett (People Before Profit) has hit back after a scathing attack by a fellow Dún Laoghaire Rathdown councillor, who claimed that a recent protest he organised outside council offices in Dun Laoghaire was nothing more than a “cheap publicity stunt”.

Last Monday week (October 16) Cllr Boyd Barrett organised a public protest outside the county council offices on Marine Road while the council was in session.

The protest was staged in opposition to the recent demolition of structures by the Dún Laoghaire Harbour Company on the Carlisle Pier.

The United Alliance Against Cuts which is a new alliance of community groups, left and independent parties, trade unionists and workers today held a demonstration of around 100 people to lobby Green party members today. The People Before Profit Alliance, Coca Cola workers currently on strike, SIPTU-Community Sector, Shell to Sea activists, Socialist Workers Party, Socialist Youth and many others were present. 

The protest called on the Green Party to oppose the NAMA bank bailout and the proposed cuts and to end it’s participation in government.

Parent James McDonagh (above), who was thrown out of Green Party conference for trying to raise the issue of resources for special educational needs for his daughter, speaks at the protest.