A chara, - As Minister for Integration, Conor Lenihan has written to all school principals about schoolchildren who wish to wear the hijab. As Minister for Integration he should also write to the principals of special schools in relation to the pupils who finished school last week and will have to sit at home in September because of inadequate HSE funding for their potential adult placements.
People with disabilities are engaged in a constant struggle to integrate into society, sometimes against enormous odds.The number of people affected by this difficulty far outweighs the number of pupils who wish to wear the hijab, or the number of people who care whether they do or not.
Schools such as ours have spent years helping to integrate our pupils into Irish society. These young adults now need to attend adult placements to further this integration. Are all the years of work put into these people to be just thrown away? The seven pupils who left our school last week are among countless across the country in a similar situation. They can't speak for themselves. Mr Lenihan is the Minister for Integration. It is time that he spoke for them. - Is mise,
LOMAN Ó LOINGSIGH, Principal, Setanta Special School for pupils with Autism, Beechpark, Stillorgan, Co Dublin.