Pádraig O'Sullivan (Cork North Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

To follow on from that, with respect, I have spoken to all the potential patrons, including Cork ETB, Cope and others, and I have spoken to a number of stakeholders in regard to the identification of a number of sites. This has been going on a long time and people are becoming frustrated, given a number of sites and buildings suitable for conversion have been identified. I understand some of them did not meet the criteria, which is fair enough and is part of any appraisal or assessment. I want to stress the urgency because we need to kick on with this. During the pandemic, politicians of all codes reiterated that home tuition is not suitable for children but, come next September, unless a solution is found in Cork, a number of families will be facing that real prospect, which is not acceptable.

To move on, there is also an issue with certain schools requiring that their students leave primary school at 12 years of age. Can Ms Mannion clarify the situation in regard to a person with a diagnosis or a special educational need and the requirement for them to leave the school at 12 years of age?

There is a specific issue concerning children with dual diagnosis in Cork. Again, both of the school locations that would be suitable to take children with dual diagnosis are full. I have written to Ms McGrath in the past and, to be fair, she gave me a very comprehensive response about the number of ASD units across the county and city. However, as we go down through the list, the vast majority of those units are full. If a person is travelling from outside the greater Cork city environs, given the units available, it would probably require travel to Charleville or Mitchelstown, which are right on the fringes. There is a particular problem in those areas of the city and county where there is fast population growth, in particular suburban areas. It is fine to say, as was mentioned earlier, that a SENO’s role is to help people navigate their way through the system and identify school places but, from the list that was furnished to me, the vast majority of ASD units are full. Consequently, there is a very limited role that a SENO could play, and the SENOs themselves probably feel powerless in the whole situation.

I ask Ms Mannion to clarify the situation with regard to dual diagnosis and to 12-year-old children being compelled to finish primary school.