People Before Profit TD condemns “sneaky stealth cuts” and “broken Ministerial promises” at St Augustine’s Special Education School in Blackrock
In a statement, Richard Boyd Barrett TD, for People Before Profit in Dún Laoghaire has condemned as “disgraceful” and “sneaky” “stealth cuts” to vital vocational services at St Augustine’s Special Education School in Blackrock.
Deputy Boyd Barrett said, St John Of Gods, who run the school and the HSE, who funds the vocational services for students with mild learning disabilities were guilty of implementing “nasty, behind the door cuts to critical vocational services provided to vulnerable children, despite a solemn written promise from Minister for Health and a letter from the HSE in 2016 that no such cuts or any changes would be implemented before a full review of services was completed in 2019.”
Deputy Boyd Barrett, who has been contacted by a number of parents at the school pointed out that protests by parents in 2016 at previous attempts by St John of Gods to cut vocational services at the school resulted in the cuts being withdrawn and a written pledge being given by Minister for Health, Simon Harris and by the HSE itself, that the services would be retained in full pending a review in July 2019.
However, Deputy Boyd Barrett has recently been made aware that two of the vocational services in Woodwork and Car Valeting had been axed in the last number of weeks without any formal notification of parents and in breach of the minister’s pledge, following the retirement of the instructors for these courses.
Deputy Boyd Barrett said it was “totally unconscionable that the government would allow St John of Gods and the HSE to do this to vulnerable children with disabilities only a short time after the government had finally ratified the UN Charter on the Rights of People with disabilities (UNCRPD).”
Deputy Boyd Barrett said he has already written to Minister for Health Simon Harris, last week, about the cuts to services at St Augustine’s and was very “disappointed” that he had only received “a perfunctory acknowledgement from Minister Harris’s office.”
Deputy Boyd Barrett called on Minister Harris and Minister with responsibility for disabilities, Finian McGrath, to urgently intervene with St John of Gods and the HSE to ensure the parents are fully informed and that the two axed services were immediately restored and that all the vocational courses were safeguarded into the future.
Richard Boyd Barrett said:
“It really is disgraceful that such a short time after the government finally ratified the UNCRPD that the Minister for Health would allow St John of Gods and the HSE to cut existing vocational services to vulnerable children with disabilities in direct breach of solemn written promise to parents that this would not happen.
“The vocational services at the school are of incalculable, life-long value to these children. If they are cut it will have a hugely detrimental impact on their future development and quality of life.
“Minister’s Harris and McGrath must intervene urgently and tell St John of God’s and the HSE that cutting these services is totally unacceptable and demand that the promise not to touch the services until a full review had been completed at the time promised in 2019 is honoured, and to properly consult with all parents before any changes are made.’’
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