A 17-year-old Wexford girl has been out of school for over a year because the school she should be attending cannot provide a specialised nursing service that she needs.
The school and the family of Cedhla Connolly say the Health Service Executive has sanctioned the provision of the service and they are at a loss to understand why it has not materialised.
Cedhla is intellectually and physically disabled and is unable to live independently.
In 2023 she underwent complex surgery related to her scoliosis and spent much of that year in hospital recovering.
In January of last year she was ready to return to her school, St Patrick's Special School in Enniscorthy.
However, since her operation Cedhla from time to time needs a medical intervention called deep suction to remove mucous from her lungs, and her school needs a nurse with specialist training to do this.
School principal Leigh Rogers applied to the HSE and the Department of Education and received sanction, in principle, for the role last July.
However Mr Rogers said the HSE has still not made the appointment and he is in the dark as to what the delay is.
"It is very frustrating, especially when the solution is there," he said.
"A nurse has been sanctioned and there are people in the state who can provide the service."
Cedhla is non-verbal so her mother and father spoke to RTÉ News on her behalf.
"She misses her friends," Sheila Connolly said.
"She loves getting on the bus with Fran [the driver] of a morning. He puts the music on and she has her friends. I know she doesn't communicate great, but people who know her know the way she is.
"She will clap her hands as soon as she knows Fran is here to come and take her, and she looks at me as if to say 'You can go now, this is my time'."
Her friends on the bus and at school include her best friend Jay, who she likes to hold hands with.
"We love her, but she needs space away from us," Ms Connolly said. "What 17-year-old wants to be with her parents 24/7? She needs to mix with people her own age and who are like her and who she can be herself with."
Ms Connolly said they tried bringing Cedhla in to the school for short periods of half an hour or so, so that she could at least some of the time enjoy the company of her classmates, but Cedhla became too upset by the fact that she could only visit for short periods, and that her mother came with her.
Time is running out for Cedhla, as she is due to turn 18 and will have to leave school in June of next year.
Mr Rogers says in the meantime she is missing out, when she should be "spending time [with her peers] and bonding and growing".
Her parents see the impact this isolation peers is having on Cedhla.
"Some mornings she just doesn't want to get out of bed," her father Marc said.
"We've been telling her that you are going to go back to school and now we feel like we have been lying to her."
The HSE, when asked why a nurse had not been provided to date and when the service may be put in place, said it was "committed to finding a solution" but could not comment on individual cases.
