Dr. Michael Redmond:

The provision of special classes for students with autism, which is what the majority of them are, is a collaborative process between the National Council for Special Education, typically via the special educational needs organiser, SENO, and the school's board of management. There is provision in legislation for designating a school to take a class. It is not used because the ethos of the NCSE as well as the ethos of boards of management across the country have been collaborative as opposed to something that is more directive.

The provision of an ASD class is a major undertaking for a school. It does not just convert a room and hire some additional staff. It is a piece of work that demands serious planning. We need a minimum threshold of six students for each class, as the Deputy knows. In situations where there are fewer than six, we are not permitted and will not be resourced to open a special class. Conversations between parents and schools around provision generally quite rightly centre on the needs of the child and the best care that a school can provide for the needs of the child.

Schools would much rather have ASD special classes in place to cater for fewer than six. I refer to classes of five, four and so on. The population of students who have ASD-type conditions is expanding. There is also the matter of mobility. There is a lot of fluidity around that. My point is that there is a degree of complexity involved and that it is not all based on exclusionary practices or soft barriers to enrolment. It is still illegal for a school to refuse to enrol such students if it has a place for them. It does not have to be a place in a special class. Our schools typically want these students. If I may make a strange point, there is also an anomaly in that fee-charging schools are not allowed to have special classes. This particular piece of work could also focus on that. Conversations have recently happened in Limerick and schools massively expanded their provision of ASD classes following a single conversation with their local senior special educational needs officer, SENO. It is about to happen again in Cork, where there is a bottleneck. We will see the same willingness on the part of schools to open special classes. It cannot happen overnight but, where it does happen, significant resourcing will be needed.