Having been denied Dare, Grace McNamara is very excited to have secured an arts placeGrace McNamara Thu Aug 27 2026 - 12:01 • 2 MIN READGrace McNamara is thrilled with life. Having faced the disappointment, earlier this summer, of being refused Dare (Disability Access Route to Education) – in spite of the fact that she has dyslexia, dyscalculia, struggles with anxiety and uses a laptop due to slow writing speed and difficulties holding a pen for long periods – the 18-year-old has been offered her first choice in round one of the CAO offers – arts in Galway.“I’m so happy. So happy,” McNamara, from Co Clare, says. She was approved for Hear (Higher Education Access Route). However, she feared the denial of Dare might mean her chances of getting to study at Galway were over.Her friends, aware of her learning differences, had said to her “you’ll definitely get it” and were shocked to learn she didn’t. “I bawled my eyes out. I was in the middle of the street. I opened the email and I cried,” she says. “I appealed it. I didn’t get it when I appealed as well. They just told me I got denied and they did not give me a reason both times.”She was very pleased with her Leaving Certificate results. But it was an anxious wait since last Friday to see if she would be offered her preferred college place. When the good news came on Wednesday afternoon she was delighted. She has been lucky enough to secure on-campus accommodation and she’s looking forward to her first taste of independence. “I’m just going to enjoy the city. And make new friends and just enjoy myself, I’m the oldest in my family. And I’m the first in my mam’s family to go to college.”She worries still that the denial of Dare may make it potentially more challenging for her to access learning supports and accommodations at college. “I am a bit worried because I can’t write very fast. I had to type for the Leaving Cert,” she says. But she’s hoping things will fall into place when she’s there.For now, excitement remains high. “I’m already packing up my wardrobe, figuring out what I’m taking to Galway,” she says.She’s not going for a couple more weeks, but “that’s how excited I am. I accepted [my offer] as soon as I got it.”IN THIS SECTION