800 protest outside Leinster House at cuts to SNA numbers [IrishExaminer]
- Published: 14 July 2011
ABOUT 800 people protested outside Leinster House against cuts in special needs assistants’ (SNAs) numbers yesterday.
Organised by a range of groups, it was timed to coincide with the visit of the EU/IMF delegation overseeing Ireland’s rescue package.
The protest was also a show of support for the Dáil motion on special needs put forward by the technical group of TDs. The motion was defeated last night by a comfortable margin of 103 to 47.
The previous government capped the number of SNAs at 10,575 in December 2010.
Full Story: www.examiner.ie
Student was told to ‘keep his mouth shut’ by alleged abuser [IrishExaminer]
- Published: 14 July 2011
A BOARDING school pupil said he was told to "keep his mouth shut" by an alleged abuser who was ordered to step down after regularly drinking with pupils late at night in his room.
The Murphy Commission heard of the claim in the single case against Fr Baird, who was working in a Cloyne diocese secondary school college in the 1990s.
Fr Baird, who was born in 1960 and passed away in 2004, regularly drank with mixed groups of teenagers aged between 15 and 18 in his room late at night on the boarding school’s campus.
In August 2002 the principal of the boarding school received a letter from a former pupil, ‘Peter’, alleging he was sexually abused by Fr Baird in the priest’s room on a number of occasions when he was 14 and 15.
Full Story: www.examiner.ie
Protest against special needs cutbacks [IrishTimes]
- Published: 14 July 2011
A PROTEST involving about 700 people against cuts to the number of special needs assistants and resource teachers’ hours took place yesterday outside Leinster House.
The demonstration was held to coincide with a vote in the Dáil on a motion put forward on Tuesday by the technical group of TDs which proposed a reversal of the cuts.
“It is unanimous amongst the technical group, which comes from all political spectrums, all sides, [that the cut] is wicked and unforgivable and unacceptable,” said Shane Ross TD, a member of the technical group.
“We are not fooled by any pleas that this is because of the IMF or the EU. It is within their power at the stroke of a pen tomorrow morning to reverse it,” he added.
Some of the groups involved in organising the protest included the Special Needs Parents Association, Down Syndrome Ireland, Impact, the United Left Alliance, the Dáil technical group and the Enough Campaign.
Full Story: www.irishtimes.com
Students offer input on education reforms [schooldays.ie]
- Published: 14 July 2011
A group of teenagers have made suggestions for how Ireland's education system can be improved to better prepare students for their working lives.
As part of consultations on reforming the Junior Cycle, 88 young people between the ages of 12 and 18 were asked to give their opinions to help formulate policy for the future of teaching at this level.
The pupils suggested making the Junior Cycle two years long would be beneficial in order to allow an extra year for the Senior Cycle, while they wanted greater emphasis on subjects such as social, personal and health education and civic, social and political education.
Full Story: www.schooldays.ie
Glowing tributes to a pivotal figure at school [www.corkman.ie]
- Published: 14 July 2011
GLOWING tributes have been paid to the principal of the Holy Family School at St Joseph's Foundation Charleville, Ms Sheila O'Keeffe, who is due to retire shortly after 18 years in that position and a total of 33 years in the teaching profession, at a retirement function at the school.
A native of Boherbue, County Cork, Ms O'Keeffe began her teaching career at Clonakilty National School before moving to the CBS Primary School, in Midleton, from where she came to the Holy Family School in Charleville in 1978 when the school was in the old community centre in the former Charleville CBS at Main Street.
Since then Ms O'Keeffe has been a pivotal figure in the development of the school in its first move to their new premises at Baker's Road, Charleville, and in their latest move to their state of the art building on the campus of St Joseph's Foundation in 2008. This fact was referred to in the address by chairman of the Board of Management, Dr Martin O'Donnell, at the function to mark her retirement.
Full Story: www.corkman.ie
