<p>
	The parents of a boy with a disability have been awarded &euro;9,000 because his school refused to keep an emergency medical kit on the premises for nine days.</p>
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<p>
	The decision of the Workplace Relations Commission is the second published in recent months in which a school has been criticised for the manner in which it treated a pupil with a disability.</p>
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<p>
	The case involved a child with anaphylaxis, which is where there is an extreme reaction by the body&rsquo;s immune system to the presence of certain foods and can be fatal in some instances.</p>
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<p>
	It requires an emergency medical kit to be on hand in case such a reaction occurs.</p>
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<p>
	The boy was in second class in a gaelscoil &mdash; the identities of the school and pupil were not published, at the parents&rsquo; request &mdash; when the medical kit and the training of school staff in administering it became an issue.</p>
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<p>
	The school refused to keep the kit over a period of nine days. For the first of these days, the boy&rsquo;s father stayed in his car outside the school for the day as a precaution in case his son required attention.</p>
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<p>
	The deciding officer found that an incident around what &ldquo;treats&rdquo; the boy could have in school owing to his condition when the child was in senior infants resulted in some &ldquo;hostility&rdquo; towards the family, but this did not excuse the subsequent shortcomings.</p>
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<p>
	Initially, there was a dispute over whether the word &ldquo;parents&rdquo; or &ldquo;school&rdquo; should be included in an indemnity form.</p>
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<p>
	&ldquo;For the school to engage in a stand-off where they would not retain life-saving medication for nine school days &mdash; over one word &mdash; frightens me,&rdquo; the deciding officer in WRC reported.</p>
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<p>
	The officer went on to note: &ldquo;The school should regard themselves as fortunate that they are not defending proceedings in the superior courts, or worse, giving evidence in a coroner&rsquo;s court.&rdquo;</p>
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<p>
	The WRC ruled that the boy had suffered discrimination for which the maximum award was &euro;15,000. Taking into account the circumstances of the case, the commissioner awarded &euro;9,000 to the boy&rsquo;s family. Two other complaints of harassment and bullying were not upheld.</p>
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	&nbsp;</p>
<p>
	Last month, the WRC published a ruling in which the parents of a boy who suffers from cerebral palsy were awarded &euro;5,500 because he was not allowed to bring a dog, which was a vital aid, onto the school premises.</p>
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	&nbsp;</p>
<p>
	Both of these cases arose from situations when the respective schools and families were engaged in a stand-off over conditions for the pupil in question at the time.</p>
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	&nbsp;</p>
<p>
	(Published by the Irish Examiner on the 25th October 2016)</p>
<p>
	<a href="http://www.irishexaminer.com/ireland/school-to-pay-9k-for-not-keeping-boys-emergency-kit-427372.html">http://www.irishexaminer.com/ireland/school-to-pay-9k-for-not-keeping-boys-emergency-kit-427372.html</a></p>
