AN EMOTIONAL Muireann O’Connell comforted a mum as she broke down in tears on Ireland AM over her battle to try find her daughter a school spot.
Frustrated Charlotte Cahill appeared on the breakfast show this morning to discuss how her five-year-old daughter, Cyra, had been refused a place in over 30 special educational schools.
Charlotte told hosts Muireann and Tommy Bowe that a large majority of schools said Cyra “met the criteria” but they couldn’t take her as they were “oversubscribed”.
So far this year, the Dublin native has applied to 25 schools – 22 of which have already refused her application.
The angry mum said: “Last year I was second on a school list, this year I’m 16th in the exact same school.”
A shocked Muireann remarked: “So all the reasons have been that they are oversubscribed! So what happens to Cyra if she is not in school?”
The defeated mother began to tear up as she answered: “Well that’s the problem, we just don’t know at this stage. Last year we got an extension on her home tuition grant which covers her preschool.
“So she attends an autism-specific preschool at the moment which is funded by the home tuition grant and normally a child would get two years in that, but we got an extension due to the fact that we could not secure a school place.
“The only reason why they gave it to us is because we would not stop, we were protesting, I met with the Minister for Education to try and secure Cyra a school place.”
Then Minister For Education, Norma Foley, had told Charlotte that “every child registered under the NCSE would get a school place come September”, but the mum later revealed: “That never happened for us.”
Charlotte has set up a WhatsApp group for other parents experiencing similar struggles securing a school place for their children.
And she revealed that within three days of creating the group, she had 140 parents in the chat, each with a child without a school place.
Charlotte broke down in floods of tears as she remarked: “I want to see these 136 children with a school place; I want them to walk through the doors of a classroom.
“I want to buy my child’s uniform and watch her go to school.”
‘ABSOLUTELY APPALLING’
Muireann immediately rushed over to comfort Charlotte as she broke down in tears live on TV.
The popular presenter engulfed the heartbroken parent and said: “I know it’s absolutely appalling.”
The Virgin Media host later hit out at the Department of Education, voicing extreme anger at the €9 million spend on phone pouches while special schools remain oversubscribed.
Last year, it was announced in Budget 2025 that €9 million would be allocated for a scheme to help secondary schools become phone-free.
The idea behind the Keeping Childhood Smartphone Free initiative is that the phone is stored away at the start of school and is only accessed at the end of the day.
‘I WOULD HAVE LOST IT’
In a clip shared to her Instagram, the 41-year-old raged: “If I were a parent whose child didn’t get a place in a school and I looked and saw they were spending €9 million on phone pouches, I think I would have lost it.”
She added: “The fact that we are funding that and not spaces for children with special needs seems absolutely crazy.”
The Limerick native penned in her caption: “I know this issue is nuanced, and €9 million isn’t the silver bullet, but my god, it would fund some SNAs.
“Maybe get them the pay they deserve so they can stay within an incredibly difficult profession in order to help our most vulnerable children.”
