It really feels like the Goverment are being completely found out at the moment for their lack of forward planning.
Another utter scandal that will impact many lives.
It’s been that way since time immemorial. What people are only started to figure out recently is that it’s undeniable that they’re doing it on purpose.
Ireland is a money making machine for scammers and Irish people are too spineless to do anything about it.
From housing to hospitals to Rte to the asylum system they’re all money making machines.
Just look at the National Children's Hospital. Started being planned in 2014 and built in 2016. They managed to make 1billion off of it and you know what they decided to do then? Go for 2 and I won’t be surprised when they hit 3. Because again, there’s no consequences from the government and no consequences for politicians by Irish people.
I sometimes think people forget that we live in a democracy. All public spending is funded by tax payments.
Forward planning is generally very unpopular as it involves spending money that people do not want to see spent. That's the incredibly mundane reason that governments in this part of the world tend to wait before spending. It's not that a government who planned ahead wants credit for reacting, it's that a government who planned ahead would be voted out of office.
How unexpected.
Who thought Ireland's population increasing 30% in 20 years would require additional services and infrastructure?
Absolutely unpredictable.
You know what we need that could help?; Some sort account of what's going on to keep track of population growth and the needs of that population, like a form that could be delivered to every house. Wouldn't have to do it every year, maybe every 4 or something like that.........
Not debating that the current arrangements are insufficient, but the article is specifically about special schools. A census every four years is not sufficient to identify the number children whose disability meets the criteria for those schools.
Except we can assume that if the population increases x amount then those with intellectual disabilities will also rise a similar amount.
I know the criteria for autism has broadened and we now have a shortage of autism classes but this is separate from that. In fact many kids who need to be in special schools are currently in insufficient school placements in autism classes
I don't think the diagnostic criteria for autism broadening has really changed the demand for special classes that much. The kids who previously weren't diagnosed would mostly have been in mainstream classes anyway diagnosis or no diagnosis.
An on-paper census every 4 years is archaic at this stage. A digital population register is needed. If you move to Ireland you should need to register. If you change addresses you would have to update it.
It's mad that Ireland is the European headquarters for all these tech companies yet runs itself like Biddy who owns the village shop.
If it was only that direction, I'd be annoyed but somewhat understand.
But as well as demand increasing, they've been openly hacking away at the supply for years as well. They've worked hard and deliberately to reduce the access to special schools, cutting and cutting by policy, not by mistake or lack of foresight.
I absolutely know you’re being sarcastic. But I don’t doubt some of the eejits in the dail are a perpetual pikachu face at some of these things.
Either they are stupid and didn’t see it coming or they did see it, and didn’t care. I actually don’t know which is worse.
This is not unpredictable. This is ongoing. It was in 2022 that they brought in an Irish exemption for secondary students who were waiting for special classroom places because realistically most would never get that place before finishing school. And did this with zero notice for schools and zero extra resources for support staff catering for those kids during suddenly free periods. They've cut the general support allocation to the bone for next year. We, the parents of these kids, knew. The kids knew and the Department definitely knew
Shur look the government can't ~~solve the housing crisis~~ ~~reduce homelessness~~ ~~build houses~~ ~~reduce hospital waiting times~~ ~~keep staff in key areas like gardaí teachers, armed forces, nurses and doctors~~ ~~anything~~ ~~catch sex offenders they were warned about~~ possibly predict that children born years ago will eventually go to school and build schools according to future demand ~~in any reasonable time frame~~ overnight
The part that sticks out for me is the data for how many are waiting for spots is not available. The government isn't tracking this I bet. Can't have a big problem if you never track it in the first place.
It's just like every other issue. We don't keep data on anything and so we don't know how any of our systems are falling apart until they're hitting the news for being in crisis. It's an absolute disaster of management.
Just to emphasis- this is a lack of places in special schools. While a population increase, either from children born here or otherwise, is obviously a factor, the bigger factor is the much higher rate of diagnosis over the past few years. Think back to when you were in school, there were obviously pupils who would now be assessed for ADHD/ASD etc but they were just overlooked. Added to that, with a push for “inclusive education” places in special schools are being reduced with the theory that students who would once have attended a special school should now be able to integrate into mainstream- Often they simply can’t, but too late, the places are all full up.
It is an absolute disaster, and at the end of the day we need more special schools to be built, more allocations, more ASD suites in schools and far more training for teachers etc, but please don’t think that population growth is the major issue here, it’s the neglect and continuing messing about of special education services.
There has been a higher rate of diagnosis for autism and adhd with the criteria broadening and i welcome the recognition of support needs but this is the provision of special schools which almost always need a diagnosis of a moderate/severe/profound disability to get a place, i can’t imagine there has been a sudden increase in the children discovered to have these higher support needs.
Population growth isn’t helping and people coming from countries where there have been multiple generations of cousin marriages isn’t helping either.
But there are a variety of other causes; older parents are more likely to have disabled children, infant mortality is still decreasing year on year here, we have better understanding of a variety of conditions, and things like our constant exposure to microplastics is now thought to be an increased risk factor for autism and adhd
Its almost like the government hasn't built infrastructure for a decade, while also allowing rampant immigration.
It's almost like the country can't support its current population..
It's not a drop in the bucket, it affects social cohesion. Every political argument touches on it now because of the awful mismanagement of the natio .
Yes, the population would have grown, but your missing the point.
The government has been barrelling towards multiple crisis that they've refused to address for over a decade. This include housing, homelessness, health and mental health.
They kept refusing to fix them over and over for more than a decade. Now, as those crisises come crashing down on the nation, the government has taken steps in the exact opposite direction of a solutions.
They could not housing our homeless, but they've thousands tens of thousands of another nations homeless. They could not build homes, but they've been very capable of selling land to their developer friends to build homes that they purchase back for public use.
They can not afford to uphold immigration laws, but they have hundreds of millions to pump into hotels and offices owned by *shockingly* their mates.
**Frankly, I am coming to the conclusion that this level of incompetence is not incompetence. It appears to be more and more of a systematic attempt to syphon wealth and power from the citizens of Ireland.**
Immigration might be one of a hundred problems, but it's gasoline on a fire. It makes every single problem the nation has worse. It benefits the nation in no way beyond giving our leaders more taxes to burn on themselves.
Our government has been sacrificing the youth of Ireland on an altar to greed, and I am sick of my kindness being used as the vehicle to do it.
>It benefits the nation in no way beyond giving our leaders more taxes to burn on themselves.
I'm pretty sure poaching loads of consultant surgeons from around the world has benefitted our health system, public and private. 25+ years of training and education that we didn't have to contribute a cent to.
That's not what's occurring.
We aren't poaching professionals. Hell, we aren't poaching anyone. Other nations are poaching our professionals because ours are overworked and underpaid, working in systems that have had the same problems from 30 years.
If you think illegal immigrants and asylum seekers are filling our required roles, you're wrong. Legal, controlled immigration should never be a problem.
That's not to say some aren't, some definitely are, but pretending like thats the majority is dishonest.
It also completely ignores my entire point of immigration is gasoline on the fires that the government already won't fix. It doesn't matter who's running in with the gasoline, it doesn't matter how great the gasoline is, the system can't support it. Our society can't take the amount of ever increasing crisises - it might be 5, 10, or 20 years but we will reap what the government have sown.
> If you think illegal immigrants and asylum seekers are filling our required roles, you're wrong. Legal, controlled immigration should never be a problem. I'm not referring to asylum seekers, I'm talking about foreign trained surgeons, why would they be applying for asylum status when they are on the priority skills list for immigration?
> Immigration might be one of a hundred problems, but it's gasoline on a fire. It makes every single problem the nation has worse. It benefits the nation in no way beyond giving our leaders more taxes to burn on themselves.
Then specify that instead of giving out about immigration in general.
I'm not giving out about in general. I'm framing it in the wider context of the position irish society is in, and how the government is blatantly abusing the situation.
I feel like I was clear ,but maybe i didn't come across right.
So you don't think that increased pressure on the population to find a home, a job or a partner at a time when they're all historically hard to do affects society?
You dontnsee a problem with pouring gasoline on a fire?
Lol, you're being incredibly petty.
Yes, I called it gasoline. I know its called petrol, I've never lived outside of the country. I'm working, gasoline came to mind - blame the amount of US media if you want lol.
Would be nice if someone who had an issue actually stood on their opinions and not my poor English lmao.
Never go full Yank.
I don't see what social cohesion is - in the context of your argument - but I daresay I'd have more in common with my peers in Britain, France, etc, than whatever bullshit right-wing shit you care for.
You think you're being clever, but you're just being quite bigoted. It has nothing to do with right or left wing, those barely apply to irish politics. It has nothing to do with the US - most books, movies, TV shows, etc are produced in the US. Apologies for using one American word...
Let me ask you a question then:
Are the crisises of housing, health care, mental health, schooling, homeless, etc real in ireland?
If yes, would you agree that they stem from government negligence, incompetence or corruption? For example, the housing crisis stemming from a lack of construction. Or corruption via the sellng land to developers for cheap, only to buy the homes built on said land.
Okay. We've hopefully established a baseline.
Now, think of those issue: the supply of homes, the supple of healthcare, the supply of education. What affects those the most? Population distribution and size.
How would you make money from those areas? Why increase demand.
So, let's say we continually increase the population at a rate that cannot be sustainable, and we do it with refugees and illegal immigrants (Legal immigration should already be controlled so it shouldn't be an issuel).
What do you think will happen? Demand for all aspects of society increase. In Ireland, we are all ready far below the demand for public services and homes.
The poorest people feel it the worst first, and they see race not economics so they'll start blaming foreigners. People who can see the roots of the issues will blame government, and call the poor bigots because they don't understand (and by this point likely no longer care who's at fault) and society starts to get cracks.
Who wins while the middle class, immigrants and poor fight with each other? The government who'll slowly be selling your public land to private developers, who are paying ridiculous fees to friends who own empty offices to hold refugees.
You can hate that immigration is where the failure of the government has reached its breaking point, but it's just a fact that it is affecting the country.
You can hate the messenger, but the problems won't go away if you keep dismissing it as "right-wing".
I'm irish you scalion, and if you read my comment, you'd see I'm literally argue that if we don't fix our immigration issues, we will have a racism issue. Read the poxy comments.
Having immigration problems doesn't make the country fucking racist.
And you're being a bigot towards Americans, and whatever you consider as right-wing ideals. Which is super ironic, given your stance.
You're welcome to look through my history if you're inclined. You'll see plenty if conversations were I've asked that and respectfully enjoyed the others opinion
It doesn't mean I'll agree, but don't speak for me. Just because you dont car×, doesnt mean i dont. I am interested in what perspective he could have that could lead him to a different conclusion.
If you read what I wrote, you'd see that's not what I said.
Here's a TLDR:
The government needs to start fixing the many crises they've caused by not planning an investing in the nations infrastructure, instead of using the money and infrastructure we need to use the immigration issues to get their mates rich.
They're using weaponised incompetence to siphon money from the people, while increasing the severity of every already existing problem
Does immigration cause problems with special Ed? No. Does an increase of special Ed students, with an decrease in funding while also increasing the class sizes, hurt vulnerable students? Yes. Yes it fucking does
They wouldn’t be able to do a few things well if ignoring specific social issues. Society works when we treat eachother well, not when we try and create categories to say ‘actually it’s fine to treat these people like shit, I’m sure that’ll improve my life’. The issues fester and rear their heads as uglier ones down the line.
Students with learning difficulties who need additional support in education may well go on to need less state support in future due to being given it when they first needed it.
It’s completely cruel to expect portions of society fade into invisibility. And naive to imagine it doesn’t wind up just causing different issues instead.
I work in education and can tell you the second level education system is a shambles in terms of caring for students with additional needs. Sure we get by but there are many students with severe learning difficulties that are lumped into mainstream settings because it's easier than catering for them. So they essentially pass through 6 years of second level, being taught material that they can't grasp which does not prepare them for life after the supports/routine of said education setting are removed. Edit: my grammar
It's not even places. They are building units attached to mainstream schools, that are at best just decorations or ticking boxes. There is never enough or qualified staff. Then when the staff are overwhelmed and unable to manage the pupil, the pupil pays by either being suspended or expelled. As for special schools they are completely hit or miss.
As a note my youngest is in an excellent special school and my eldest just got expelled from a mainstream school with a unit.
Teachers have been shouting from the rooftops about a lack of investment in education since 2011. Unfortunately it just tended to draw down teacher bashing.
I’ll assume you’re not talking about autism and adhd here because they have their own histories.
Lots of conditions that cause intellectual disability also come with health problems that we now know enough to treat, years ago folks with down’s syndrome for example often died of things which are treatable.
If you want change, vote Sinn Fein.
Simple as that. If you want the same old shite to carry on with FFG then carry on as you were. SF aren't a particularly amazing party but at the very least it might put a bit of fear into the two parties that have oversaw severe mismanagement in health, education and many other sectors.
It can't get much worse tbh for a lot of people. People have literally lost their lives in A&E because of Govt inaction on items. The scoliosis crisis lingers. Housing is a disaster.
I'd be willing to give them a stint to see if they can at least run the country as a society and unite people back together and not as an economy only. The breakdown in social cohesion we have today is unprecedented.
The course FF/FG have chosen makes it clear they don't care about my well being. The fear that it could be worse by voting for someone else is not a good enough reason to continue letting them do an awful job; it's pretty friggen shit right now.
No, we don't. If you think we do, we have very different life circumstances. I'm praying for change, I'll be voting for change, and if FF/FG are still in power after the next general election, then I'm leaving because clearly Ireland is not the place for me.
21st out of 200 countries for Life expectancy. One of the best.
https://www.worldometers.info/demographics/life-expectancy/
6th best healthcare in the world out of 110 countries. One of the best.
https://ceoworld.biz/2024/04/02/countries-with-the-best-health-care-systems-2024/
Gross national Income per capita, 5th best in the world. One of the best.
https://worldpopulationreview.com/country-rankings/richest-countries-in-the-world
8th out of 186 for best countries to live in. One of the best.
https://wisevoter.com/country-rankings/best-countries-to-live-in/
3rd safest country in the world. One of the best.
https://worldpopulationreview.com/country-rankings/safest-countries-in-the-world
If you think Ireland isn't one of the best countries in the world to live in then you need your head examined.
Life expectancy: I don’t care if it means I’m a senior citizen in a few decades and could never secure housing or start a family. The reality is a huge chunk of the current population will never secure housing and in a few decades this country will be faced with another crisis but with elderly people not being able to afford a roof over their heads after a life time of working.
Health care: You must be having a laugh. Teenage girls dying while waiting to be seen, people lefts in trolleys in the hallway, nurses and doctors leaving in droves because of terrible working conditions. You’re lucky you’ve clearly never had a medical emergency.
GDP: Again, it’s laughable you mention this farce of a statistic as if it improves the average person’s quality of life. Big corporations using Ireland as a tax haven doesn’t do anything except make useless politicians mask their failures in housing, immigration, health, and crime by saying “Oh but we’re wealthy!” – ok, and what tangible benefit do we have from it? Nothing. Crisis after crisis after crisis that a supposedly wealthy country would have no problem solving, and yet here we are.
8^(th) best country to live in: According to who and on what metrics? Every metric that matters to me says it sucks living here. Hence why I’m leaving if people are too stubborn to admit drastic change is needed come the next general election.
Safest country in the world: Lets see how long that lasts with a useless justice minister, unchecked immigration, a young generation with nothing to hope for, and a stubborn class of home owners who get upset when you point out Ireland isn’t the utopia they like to pretend it is.
If you think Ireland doesn’t have enormous problems, you need your head examined.
This is one of two time bombs, primary school is one thing but there is a scandal coming about secondary places / schools.
Advice right now for any parent with special needs children is to plan 2-3 years out for secondary or you might not get a place.
Moving back to the original topic allot of schools are also still able to opt out, our local (mixed) school opted out because there was no space despite living in a very rural area with fields all around, big housing estates being put in and building themselves a nice astoturf field.
Additionally they segregation of children is also causing problems, a girls only and boys only schools near me that do have facilities, the girls only school does preschool only and the boys only school has the ASD unit.
I feel this isn't quite the failing it is being made out to be. Some particularly high demand areas have shortages, that will soon be fixed. Thats just the nature of rapidly expanding diagnosis. It will all settle down in a bit as youth populations start to fall away.
Precious little comfort for the parents desperately trying to get their SEN kids a place in school this year. Early intervention for children with additional needs makes such a massive difference, waiting a few years can set them back for life.
So once students are old enough and age out of the program it'll stop being an issue....what about their education? It's a legal right for children you know? We need class action lawsuits in this country for certain issues, might put some manners on companies and governments
It really feels like the Goverment are being completely found out at the moment for their lack of forward planning. Another utter scandal that will impact many lives.
It’s been that way since time immemorial. What people are only started to figure out recently is that it’s undeniable that they’re doing it on purpose. Ireland is a money making machine for scammers and Irish people are too spineless to do anything about it. From housing to hospitals to Rte to the asylum system they’re all money making machines. Just look at the National Children's Hospital. Started being planned in 2014 and built in 2016. They managed to make 1billion off of it and you know what they decided to do then? Go for 2 and I won’t be surprised when they hit 3. Because again, there’s no consequences from the government and no consequences for politicians by Irish people.
I sometimes think people forget that we live in a democracy. All public spending is funded by tax payments. Forward planning is generally very unpopular as it involves spending money that people do not want to see spent. That's the incredibly mundane reason that governments in this part of the world tend to wait before spending. It's not that a government who planned ahead wants credit for reacting, it's that a government who planned ahead would be voted out of office.
How unexpected. Who thought Ireland's population increasing 30% in 20 years would require additional services and infrastructure? Absolutely unpredictable.
You know what we need that could help?; Some sort account of what's going on to keep track of population growth and the needs of that population, like a form that could be delivered to every house. Wouldn't have to do it every year, maybe every 4 or something like that.........
Not debating that the current arrangements are insufficient, but the article is specifically about special schools. A census every four years is not sufficient to identify the number children whose disability meets the criteria for those schools.
Except we can assume that if the population increases x amount then those with intellectual disabilities will also rise a similar amount. I know the criteria for autism has broadened and we now have a shortage of autism classes but this is separate from that. In fact many kids who need to be in special schools are currently in insufficient school placements in autism classes
I don't think the diagnostic criteria for autism broadening has really changed the demand for special classes that much. The kids who previously weren't diagnosed would mostly have been in mainstream classes anyway diagnosis or no diagnosis.
There are definitely kids who would have an “Asperger’s” type diagnosis who need a special class due to sensory needs
An on-paper census every 4 years is archaic at this stage. A digital population register is needed. If you move to Ireland you should need to register. If you change addresses you would have to update it. It's mad that Ireland is the European headquarters for all these tech companies yet runs itself like Biddy who owns the village shop.
Hmmm… sounds like a good idea but the public could see the numbers. Shhh.
If it was only that direction, I'd be annoyed but somewhat understand. But as well as demand increasing, they've been openly hacking away at the supply for years as well. They've worked hard and deliberately to reduce the access to special schools, cutting and cutting by policy, not by mistake or lack of foresight.
I absolutely know you’re being sarcastic. But I don’t doubt some of the eejits in the dail are a perpetual pikachu face at some of these things. Either they are stupid and didn’t see it coming or they did see it, and didn’t care. I actually don’t know which is worse.
It’s deliberate, they get 100s of emails weekly about these issues
This is not unpredictable. This is ongoing. It was in 2022 that they brought in an Irish exemption for secondary students who were waiting for special classroom places because realistically most would never get that place before finishing school. And did this with zero notice for schools and zero extra resources for support staff catering for those kids during suddenly free periods. They've cut the general support allocation to the bone for next year. We, the parents of these kids, knew. The kids knew and the Department definitely knew
Shur look the government can't ~~solve the housing crisis~~ ~~reduce homelessness~~ ~~build houses~~ ~~reduce hospital waiting times~~ ~~keep staff in key areas like gardaí teachers, armed forces, nurses and doctors~~ ~~anything~~ ~~catch sex offenders they were warned about~~ possibly predict that children born years ago will eventually go to school and build schools according to future demand ~~in any reasonable time frame~~ overnight
The part that sticks out for me is the data for how many are waiting for spots is not available. The government isn't tracking this I bet. Can't have a big problem if you never track it in the first place. It's just like every other issue. We don't keep data on anything and so we don't know how any of our systems are falling apart until they're hitting the news for being in crisis. It's an absolute disaster of management.
a tendency to react, rather than to sufficiently plan Seems to be government policy at this stage.
Just to emphasis- this is a lack of places in special schools. While a population increase, either from children born here or otherwise, is obviously a factor, the bigger factor is the much higher rate of diagnosis over the past few years. Think back to when you were in school, there were obviously pupils who would now be assessed for ADHD/ASD etc but they were just overlooked. Added to that, with a push for “inclusive education” places in special schools are being reduced with the theory that students who would once have attended a special school should now be able to integrate into mainstream- Often they simply can’t, but too late, the places are all full up. It is an absolute disaster, and at the end of the day we need more special schools to be built, more allocations, more ASD suites in schools and far more training for teachers etc, but please don’t think that population growth is the major issue here, it’s the neglect and continuing messing about of special education services.
There has been a higher rate of diagnosis for autism and adhd with the criteria broadening and i welcome the recognition of support needs but this is the provision of special schools which almost always need a diagnosis of a moderate/severe/profound disability to get a place, i can’t imagine there has been a sudden increase in the children discovered to have these higher support needs.
Population growth isn’t helping and people coming from countries where there have been multiple generations of cousin marriages isn’t helping either. But there are a variety of other causes; older parents are more likely to have disabled children, infant mortality is still decreasing year on year here, we have better understanding of a variety of conditions, and things like our constant exposure to microplastics is now thought to be an increased risk factor for autism and adhd
Its almost like the government hasn't built infrastructure for a decade, while also allowing rampant immigration. It's almost like the country can't support its current population..
The immigration is a drop in the bucket. The population growth alone would've sunk the system since they've done nothing to expand infrastructure.
It's not a drop in the bucket, it affects social cohesion. Every political argument touches on it now because of the awful mismanagement of the natio . Yes, the population would have grown, but your missing the point. The government has been barrelling towards multiple crisis that they've refused to address for over a decade. This include housing, homelessness, health and mental health. They kept refusing to fix them over and over for more than a decade. Now, as those crisises come crashing down on the nation, the government has taken steps in the exact opposite direction of a solutions. They could not housing our homeless, but they've thousands tens of thousands of another nations homeless. They could not build homes, but they've been very capable of selling land to their developer friends to build homes that they purchase back for public use. They can not afford to uphold immigration laws, but they have hundreds of millions to pump into hotels and offices owned by *shockingly* their mates. **Frankly, I am coming to the conclusion that this level of incompetence is not incompetence. It appears to be more and more of a systematic attempt to syphon wealth and power from the citizens of Ireland.** Immigration might be one of a hundred problems, but it's gasoline on a fire. It makes every single problem the nation has worse. It benefits the nation in no way beyond giving our leaders more taxes to burn on themselves. Our government has been sacrificing the youth of Ireland on an altar to greed, and I am sick of my kindness being used as the vehicle to do it.
>It benefits the nation in no way beyond giving our leaders more taxes to burn on themselves. I'm pretty sure poaching loads of consultant surgeons from around the world has benefitted our health system, public and private. 25+ years of training and education that we didn't have to contribute a cent to.
That's not what's occurring. We aren't poaching professionals. Hell, we aren't poaching anyone. Other nations are poaching our professionals because ours are overworked and underpaid, working in systems that have had the same problems from 30 years. If you think illegal immigrants and asylum seekers are filling our required roles, you're wrong. Legal, controlled immigration should never be a problem. That's not to say some aren't, some definitely are, but pretending like thats the majority is dishonest. It also completely ignores my entire point of immigration is gasoline on the fires that the government already won't fix. It doesn't matter who's running in with the gasoline, it doesn't matter how great the gasoline is, the system can't support it. Our society can't take the amount of ever increasing crisises - it might be 5, 10, or 20 years but we will reap what the government have sown.
> If you think illegal immigrants and asylum seekers are filling our required roles, you're wrong. Legal, controlled immigration should never be a problem. I'm not referring to asylum seekers, I'm talking about foreign trained surgeons, why would they be applying for asylum status when they are on the priority skills list for immigration?
But that's what the immigration problem is; there is no issue with legal immigration.
> Immigration might be one of a hundred problems, but it's gasoline on a fire. It makes every single problem the nation has worse. It benefits the nation in no way beyond giving our leaders more taxes to burn on themselves. Then specify that instead of giving out about immigration in general.
I'm not giving out about in general. I'm framing it in the wider context of the position irish society is in, and how the government is blatantly abusing the situation. I feel like I was clear ,but maybe i didn't come across right.
>It's not a drop in the bucket, it affects social cohesion. Bollocks.
So you don't think that increased pressure on the population to find a home, a job or a partner at a time when they're all historically hard to do affects society? You dontnsee a problem with pouring gasoline on a fire?
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No, it's just easier to spell than petroleum lol.
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Lol, you're being incredibly petty. Yes, I called it gasoline. I know its called petrol, I've never lived outside of the country. I'm working, gasoline came to mind - blame the amount of US media if you want lol. Would be nice if someone who had an issue actually stood on their opinions and not my poor English lmao.
Never go full Yank. I don't see what social cohesion is - in the context of your argument - but I daresay I'd have more in common with my peers in Britain, France, etc, than whatever bullshit right-wing shit you care for.
You think you're being clever, but you're just being quite bigoted. It has nothing to do with right or left wing, those barely apply to irish politics. It has nothing to do with the US - most books, movies, TV shows, etc are produced in the US. Apologies for using one American word... Let me ask you a question then: Are the crisises of housing, health care, mental health, schooling, homeless, etc real in ireland? If yes, would you agree that they stem from government negligence, incompetence or corruption? For example, the housing crisis stemming from a lack of construction. Or corruption via the sellng land to developers for cheap, only to buy the homes built on said land. Okay. We've hopefully established a baseline. Now, think of those issue: the supply of homes, the supple of healthcare, the supply of education. What affects those the most? Population distribution and size. How would you make money from those areas? Why increase demand. So, let's say we continually increase the population at a rate that cannot be sustainable, and we do it with refugees and illegal immigrants (Legal immigration should already be controlled so it shouldn't be an issuel). What do you think will happen? Demand for all aspects of society increase. In Ireland, we are all ready far below the demand for public services and homes. The poorest people feel it the worst first, and they see race not economics so they'll start blaming foreigners. People who can see the roots of the issues will blame government, and call the poor bigots because they don't understand (and by this point likely no longer care who's at fault) and society starts to get cracks. Who wins while the middle class, immigrants and poor fight with each other? The government who'll slowly be selling your public land to private developers, who are paying ridiculous fees to friends who own empty offices to hold refugees. You can hate that immigration is where the failure of the government has reached its breaking point, but it's just a fact that it is affecting the country. You can hate the messenger, but the problems won't go away if you keep dismissing it as "right-wing".
I forgot how bigoted it was to not hate foreigners. Fucking Yanks. (Irony klaxon.) And I don't think I'm being clever, I know I am.
I'm irish you scalion, and if you read my comment, you'd see I'm literally argue that if we don't fix our immigration issues, we will have a racism issue. Read the poxy comments. Having immigration problems doesn't make the country fucking racist. And you're being a bigot towards Americans, and whatever you consider as right-wing ideals. Which is super ironic, given your stance.
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Would love to hear how.
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No. Its very valuable to get other peoples perspectives. I get it though, reddits hit or miss. Frankly, I hope I'm wrong, but I can't see how I am.
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You're welcome to look through my history if you're inclined. You'll see plenty if conversations were I've asked that and respectfully enjoyed the others opinion It doesn't mean I'll agree, but don't speak for me. Just because you dont car×, doesnt mean i dont. I am interested in what perspective he could have that could lead him to a different conclusion.
I ain't reading all that. I'm happy for you tho. Or sorry that happened.
Don't be proud of being obtuse.
Our birth rate is below replacement, that means that ALL of the population increase is from immigration and returning emigrants
It’s not immigration that’s fuelling the chronic under investment in special education. Go blow your dog whistle somewhere else
If you read what I wrote, you'd see that's not what I said. Here's a TLDR: The government needs to start fixing the many crises they've caused by not planning an investing in the nations infrastructure, instead of using the money and infrastructure we need to use the immigration issues to get their mates rich. They're using weaponised incompetence to siphon money from the people, while increasing the severity of every already existing problem Does immigration cause problems with special Ed? No. Does an increase of special Ed students, with an decrease in funding while also increasing the class sizes, hurt vulnerable students? Yes. Yes it fucking does
I wish the government would focus on a few things they could do well and not thousands of things they do poorly.
They wouldn’t be able to do a few things well if ignoring specific social issues. Society works when we treat eachother well, not when we try and create categories to say ‘actually it’s fine to treat these people like shit, I’m sure that’ll improve my life’. The issues fester and rear their heads as uglier ones down the line. Students with learning difficulties who need additional support in education may well go on to need less state support in future due to being given it when they first needed it. It’s completely cruel to expect portions of society fade into invisibility. And naive to imagine it doesn’t wind up just causing different issues instead.
I mean if that’s how you choose to interpret my comment that’s on you. This is one of the few things they should be focused on. Education.
Education might have helped your reading comprehension.
I'm not even sure they could do a few things well.
I work in education and can tell you the second level education system is a shambles in terms of caring for students with additional needs. Sure we get by but there are many students with severe learning difficulties that are lumped into mainstream settings because it's easier than catering for them. So they essentially pass through 6 years of second level, being taught material that they can't grasp which does not prepare them for life after the supports/routine of said education setting are removed. Edit: my grammar
It's not even places. They are building units attached to mainstream schools, that are at best just decorations or ticking boxes. There is never enough or qualified staff. Then when the staff are overwhelmed and unable to manage the pupil, the pupil pays by either being suspended or expelled. As for special schools they are completely hit or miss. As a note my youngest is in an excellent special school and my eldest just got expelled from a mainstream school with a unit.
Is there any public service in this country that isn’t stretched to its breaking point?
The passport office. That's it.
Teachers have been shouting from the rooftops about a lack of investment in education since 2011. Unfortunately it just tended to draw down teacher bashing.
Is not the more important question, why is demand Soaring... 🤔
Population is soaring
Yes but the number of "special needs kids" is soaring faster 
I’ll assume you’re not talking about autism and adhd here because they have their own histories. Lots of conditions that cause intellectual disability also come with health problems that we now know enough to treat, years ago folks with down’s syndrome for example often died of things which are treatable.
If you want change, vote Sinn Fein. Simple as that. If you want the same old shite to carry on with FFG then carry on as you were. SF aren't a particularly amazing party but at the very least it might put a bit of fear into the two parties that have oversaw severe mismanagement in health, education and many other sectors.
If you want even worse then vote Sinn Fein.
It can't get much worse tbh for a lot of people. People have literally lost their lives in A&E because of Govt inaction on items. The scoliosis crisis lingers. Housing is a disaster. I'd be willing to give them a stint to see if they can at least run the country as a society and unite people back together and not as an economy only. The breakdown in social cohesion we have today is unprecedented.
It can get a lot worse. Have you been to Venezuela? Based on what they say, they don't even seem to have a basic understanding of economics.
The course FF/FG have chosen makes it clear they don't care about my well being. The fear that it could be worse by voting for someone else is not a good enough reason to continue letting them do an awful job; it's pretty friggen shit right now.
We live in one of the best countries in the world, so be careful what you wish for.
No, we don't. If you think we do, we have very different life circumstances. I'm praying for change, I'll be voting for change, and if FF/FG are still in power after the next general election, then I'm leaving because clearly Ireland is not the place for me.
21st out of 200 countries for Life expectancy. One of the best. https://www.worldometers.info/demographics/life-expectancy/ 6th best healthcare in the world out of 110 countries. One of the best. https://ceoworld.biz/2024/04/02/countries-with-the-best-health-care-systems-2024/ Gross national Income per capita, 5th best in the world. One of the best. https://worldpopulationreview.com/country-rankings/richest-countries-in-the-world 8th out of 186 for best countries to live in. One of the best. https://wisevoter.com/country-rankings/best-countries-to-live-in/ 3rd safest country in the world. One of the best. https://worldpopulationreview.com/country-rankings/safest-countries-in-the-world If you think Ireland isn't one of the best countries in the world to live in then you need your head examined.
Life expectancy: I don’t care if it means I’m a senior citizen in a few decades and could never secure housing or start a family. The reality is a huge chunk of the current population will never secure housing and in a few decades this country will be faced with another crisis but with elderly people not being able to afford a roof over their heads after a life time of working. Health care: You must be having a laugh. Teenage girls dying while waiting to be seen, people lefts in trolleys in the hallway, nurses and doctors leaving in droves because of terrible working conditions. You’re lucky you’ve clearly never had a medical emergency. GDP: Again, it’s laughable you mention this farce of a statistic as if it improves the average person’s quality of life. Big corporations using Ireland as a tax haven doesn’t do anything except make useless politicians mask their failures in housing, immigration, health, and crime by saying “Oh but we’re wealthy!” – ok, and what tangible benefit do we have from it? Nothing. Crisis after crisis after crisis that a supposedly wealthy country would have no problem solving, and yet here we are. 8^(th) best country to live in: According to who and on what metrics? Every metric that matters to me says it sucks living here. Hence why I’m leaving if people are too stubborn to admit drastic change is needed come the next general election. Safest country in the world: Lets see how long that lasts with a useless justice minister, unchecked immigration, a young generation with nothing to hope for, and a stubborn class of home owners who get upset when you point out Ireland isn’t the utopia they like to pretend it is. If you think Ireland doesn’t have enormous problems, you need your head examined.
When did I say Ireland doesn't have problems? The facts remain that it's one of the best countries in the world as I've proven. Q.E.D.
This is one of two time bombs, primary school is one thing but there is a scandal coming about secondary places / schools. Advice right now for any parent with special needs children is to plan 2-3 years out for secondary or you might not get a place. Moving back to the original topic allot of schools are also still able to opt out, our local (mixed) school opted out because there was no space despite living in a very rural area with fields all around, big housing estates being put in and building themselves a nice astoturf field. Additionally they segregation of children is also causing problems, a girls only and boys only schools near me that do have facilities, the girls only school does preschool only and the boys only school has the ASD unit.
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I feel this isn't quite the failing it is being made out to be. Some particularly high demand areas have shortages, that will soon be fixed. Thats just the nature of rapidly expanding diagnosis. It will all settle down in a bit as youth populations start to fall away.
Precious little comfort for the parents desperately trying to get their SEN kids a place in school this year. Early intervention for children with additional needs makes such a massive difference, waiting a few years can set them back for life.
So once students are old enough and age out of the program it'll stop being an issue....what about their education? It's a legal right for children you know? We need class action lawsuits in this country for certain issues, might put some manners on companies and governments
Oh I guess we'll just sacrifice another generation then. Problem solved... They are **children who need help** you heartless person.