Ruairi Ó Murchú (Louth, Sinn Fein)

The Taoiseach and I have spoken many times about autism services and the issues facing families. Recently, I met the All Abilities Action Alliance in Louth about school places. There are anomalies in the number of special needs classes that are available in Louth at primary and secondary levels. I have already submitted a couple of follow-up questions on this matter, but we need clarity. In secondary schools in particular, there is no capacity to deal with the level of need. Obviously, parents are applying to all classes. I have made the suggestion previously, including in my legislation, of a two-year run-in for families in this situation. This needs to happen.

Shelagh National School has builds planned, but it wants to ensure there is official contact from the Department on delivering them. De La Salle's issues were sorted in the short term, but the main issue is getting a permanent building. I spoke to the principal of St. Mary's recently. He spoke about his over-and-back with the Department and the NCSE. It has taken a significant amount of time. His school is at full capacity and has kids in mainstream classes, but we need to deliver a prefab for it.

This is about ensuring that we have the capacity and that the interaction is correct.

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