The Monaghan families of children with special needs are staging a peaceful protest this weekend. The protest is aimed at all local politicians, especially the local election candidates as they face into their final week of canvassing.
Organised by SNAP, the Special Needs Active Parents campaign group, participants will wear high-vis jackets to remind politicians that although their children cannot speak out for themselves, they are not invisible. The peaceful but visible protest will be held outside Monaghan Courthouse from 2 pm until 4pm, tomorrow, Saturday, 1st June.
Protestors will have copies of a petition calling for a special school, respite centre and adult day care centre for Monaghan with them, which they hope members of the public and politicians will sign. SNAP parents then plan to deliver the signatures to the Dáil on behalf of their children.
Paddy McAloon is father to two children with additional needs. He said that while politicians are getting behind their campaign , progress has been too slow and there are no guarantees: "They are doing great work," Paddy said of local TDs, "They are pushing hard but, we just need a bot more and I suppose, the Taoiseach, who is leading out country, he comes from a special needs family and we'd ;like to think he'd do a bit more for us. Eamon Ryan up there as well, another leader, he also comes from a special needs family. A lot of them have connections with special needs families so, when we go up with this petition we'll be calling on Simon Harrois, calling on Eamon Ryan and Minister Anne Rabbitte and other ones to do more."
