State reneged on promise to provide school place to autistic girl (7), court told

The State reneged on an undertaking given to a High Court judge to provide a place to a seven-year-old autistic girl who had never seen the inside of a “big school” classroom, Justice Rory Mulcahy was told on Wednesday.Feichín McDonagh SC said that in July, on the eve of a judicial challenge against the Minister for Education and the National Council for Special Education’s failure to provide a place, the girl’s parents had been told the case had been settled and places for her and a twin sister had been found.“It now transpires neither girl has a place and their parents are bewildered as to what has been going on since the Minister’s undertaking to provide places was given to a High Court judge,” McDonagh said.Tony McGillicuddy SC, for both respondents meeting an application for leave to seek orders compelling the Minister to provide both children with an education, said he had just been retained in the case and needed time to take full instructions.READ MOREMcDonagh, who appeared with barrister Brendan Hennessy and Niamh Maher of Healy Law Solicitors, said he was very reluctant to acquiesce to any adjournment.[ ‘I don’t have words to describe this stress’: No school places for twin sisters with autismOpens in new window ]When McGillicuddy said there were processes that had to be respected, Mulcahy said he had been told on affidavit that confirmation of the availability of places had been confirmed in court in July, which made it difficult to allow further time for an explanation.McDonagh told the court the twins’ case had been struck out in July on the strength of the undertaking on behalf of the Minister who “must know what had happened since then”.Mulcahy said it would be useful if the respondents could have a written explanation available by Friday as to what had gone wrong since July 14th and put the case back until then.Although the educational needs of both twins have been publicly highlighted in various media which identified them and their parents in interviews, Mulcahy made an order today anonymising the application by replacing names with initials.The judge was told in written evidence how the twins’ parents had to make up excuses when they cried on seeing their friends pass on their way to “big school” and asked why they could not join them.