Autistic Cork boy finally secures school place after two-year wait 

A six-year-old autistic boy from Cork city has finally been offered a special school place after facing repeated rejections over the last two years.

During that time Kellie Mullins’s son Leon, who is autistic, non-verbal, and has global developmental delay, was rejected from 17 schools, with Ms Mullins saying it was “starting to make me think that no one wanted to deal with him and his disability”.

However, this week he has been offered a place in Carrignavar Special School, currently operating from Fermoy, some distance from his home on Blarney St on Cork’s northside.

Ms Mullins said her son should have been finishing junior infants in the coming weeks. “Instead he’s been at home with me full-time,” she said.

The school place he was offered will start in September.

“It’ll be very tricky to get to the school but it’s the only one he’s been offered in the two years I’ve been applying so I have to accept,” she said.

Heartbreaking

Prior to receiving the news that he had been offered a place, Ms Mullins said that, at home, there has been “no clear separation between rest, play, and learning”.

“It all blends into one place. It’s heartbreaking… Leon not being in school means his world has become very small and repetitive, all centred around home and me.”

Over the past two years, they have engaged with the National Council for Special Education (NCSE) and a special educational needs organiser. They also contacted the Department of Education and children’s ombudsman, who said they cannot intervene in school placement decisions.

Up until Tuesday evening, the family had no placement and “no timeline for when or if one will become available”, said Ms Mullins.

The Echo contacted the Department of Education about the issue on Friday and again on Monday.

On Tuesday afternoon, Ms Mullins was contacted with the offer of a place, and a spokesperson for the department replied to The Echo hours later, saying it “does not comment on individual cases”.

Extremely painful

Prior to being offered the school place, Ms Mullins said: “As a mother, it is extremely painful to be in a position where you cannot access education for your child despite doing everything asked of you.

“My son is not a case file or an application — he is a six-year-old child who needs structure, safety, and support. We are not asking for anything beyond that.”

Leon’s case was raised in the Dáil by Sinn Féin TD Thomas Gould earlier this year, and he received a response from the NCSE confirming that the local special educational needs organiser had been supporting the family since September 2025, “following difficulties in securing a school placement”.

Mr Gould told The Echo: “It’s unbelievable that he had to wait this long, and now he’s a year behind.

“Having access to early intervention is vital, how these children progress in life often depends on supports they get when they’re young, and Leon is a year behind where he should be.

“Kellie has had to go to TDs and the local press — she shouldn’t have had to fight that hard to get a school place when it’s Leon’s legal right to an education.”

Mr Gould also raised concern about ongoing delays with the school itself, which is months behind a scheduled move to a permanent home in Carrignavar.