A mother has made an impassioned plea to the Government and teacher unions to agree a plan to immediately reopen schools for children with special educational needs.
Linda Comerford remains deeply dismayed as she tries constantly to prevent her daughter Shauna, who has autism, from having yet another 'meltdown'. The seven-year-old girl's behaviour continues to regress since her schooling was stopped by the pandemic.
"I'm just running on adrenaline. Shauna suffers bouts of uncontrolled screaming and throws herself on the ground and breaks things.
"She loves school, where she enjoyed having a structure in her life that she so badly needs," said Linda (39), a mother of four living in rural Skeoughvosteen, near Graiguenamanagh in Co Kilkenny.