Cristian, who is originally from Romania, works as a chef in a city-centre restaurant, while Ana Carolina, who is from Brazil, works in the home. They have been in Ireland since 2014 and are Irish citizens. <\/p>\n
Their search for school places began in 2024, when they applied to more than 10 schools within a 30-minute drive of their house. They did not secure any offers, but because the girls were just four years old at that point, they didn\u2019t worry too much.<\/p>\n
The following year, they expanded their applications to more schools, up to 15 \u2013 and received just one offer, for only one of the girls. <\/p>\n
\u201cHow can you choose which of your children will receive an education and which not? How can you even ask me to do that?\u201d Cristian asks. <\/p>\n
![\"Cristian](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/6LZ6GRU5ZFER5E42SQL64O3PTY.JPG\")
Cristian Pistea and his wife Ana Carolina Rodrigues Pimentel with their twin daughters Maria Giovanna and Maria Cristianna Pistea Rodrigues. Photograph: Enda O’Dowd <\/p>\n
When they did not get a second offer for their other daughter, they held them back again until this year.<\/p>\n
Following engagement with the couple\u2019s solicitor, the National Council for Special Education (NCSE)<\/a> agreed to find school places for the children this coming academic year.<\/p>\n However, the school year has now started, and the couple have heard nothing back from the NCSE or any school about places for their twins. <\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t want to fight, I don\u2019t want to do it this way. I know they [the NCSE] have a stressful job, but I have no choice now. This is a desperate call for help,\u201d Cristian says.<\/p>\n [\u00a0Stressful, torturous and a scramble: report highlights issues around access to special school placesOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n For the girls, who believe they are starting school this year, Cristian is worried about not delivering on the promise he made to them.<\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t even want to imagine that they will not get a place in school this year. I can\u2019t even think about that.\u201d<\/p>\n There are almost 4,000 special classes across primary and post-primary schools in the Republic. These are designed for children with special educational needs, including autism, and have a lower student-to-teacher ratio than mainstream classes.<\/p>\n The Department of Education<\/a> has been scrambling to meet increased demand for these classes amid higher numbers of diagnoses over the last 10 years<\/a>.<\/p>\n Many schools with special classes have been oversubscribed for many years as they consistently have more applicants than places.<\/p>\n When asked what would be done for the twin girls in Lucan, the NCSE said it did not comment on individual cases and instead outlined processes for placement in special classes.<\/p>\n \u201cThe NCSE, through its network of Special Educational Needs Organisers (SENOs) and regional teams, works closely with families, schools and patron bodies to identify and secure appropriate educational placements for children with special educational needs. <\/p>\n \u201cOur network of local SENOs continues to engage with families who seek such placements. In situations where local personnel have been engaging with parents in respect of securing a placement and the parent awaits further contact, this will be addressed as a matter of priority. <\/p>\n \u201cWe continue to encourage any parent or guardian seeking assistance or advice regarding educational placements to contact their SENO,\u201d the NCSE said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cBig school, big school, big school,\u201d has been the refrain echoing around the Pistea Rodrigues home in Lucan,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":607197,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[6466,61,60,143637,43],"class_list":["post-607196","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ireland","tag-department-of-education","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-national-council-for-special-education","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/607196","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=607196"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/607196\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/607197"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=607196"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=607196"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=607196"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"'How](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/IFLYO65QEFDUFDM5I2SD3AMPDU.JPG\")
‘How can you choose which of your children will receive an education and which not? How can you even ask me to do that?’ Cristian Pistea asks. Photograph: Enda O’Dowd <\/p>\n