St John of God makes u-turn on planned cutbacks at school

A decision by St John of God to rescind planned cutbacks at a special school in south Dublin has been welcomed by parents.

Parents were told at a meeting on Monday night that “all services currently provided by Saint John of God Community Services at Saint Augustine’s School will continue without change,” pending agreement with stakeholders.

The order had planned to withdraw a life skills programme at the school from the end of June and to phase out a vocational training programme over two years. St Augustine’s has 162 students with special needs such as autism and Down syndrome.

The change of heart followed intervention by the HSE, which funds the services, and discussions at Ministerial level.

Parents said they welcomed the progress made and the assurance from the SJOG “that there will be no change in services without agreement”.

The HSE had summoned St John of God officials to a meeting earlier on Monday over their plans to withdraw services at the school in Blackrock.

SJOG said the programmes are being withdrawn because of a significant reduction in funding and a requirement to prioritise resources in adult services.

A number of residential centres run by the order for adults with an intellectual disability have to be upgraded after being the subject of heavy criticism by the Health Information and Quality Authority.

The changes at St Augustine’s would have seen 26 staff redeployed elsewhere within the organisation.