Ruairi Ó Murchú (Louth, Sinn Fein)
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Go raibh maith agat, a Chathaoirligh. I apologise as I intended to be in here earlier but I had an hour-long meeting which went on for two hours, which was not down to me, I might add.

I apologise for any repetition. I assume I am like many other elected representatives in the sense that I am inundated with contacts from parents of kids with autism who are looking for services - everything from early learning through to primary, secondary and beyond. We all know the issue we had with the insufficient number of places in secondary schools. Everybody asked how it had not been planned for, in the sense that the numbers are known in advance for kids going to secondary level. We have had an increase in the number of units.

Before I continue, I should say my son falls into this bracket. He went to St. Joseph's National School in Muirhevnamor in Dundalk. I do not think he could have had a better educational experience without his resource teachers and special needs assistants, SNAs. That is not to say there were not difficulties, and that he did not create his own difficulties, because that can happen. He is now in Ó Fiaich College in Dundalk. In fairness, the teachers, his SNA and the school are all doing their piece from the point of view of giving him the best educational outcome. We will see where it goes. It is a journey.

Many parents have made the point that even where they have had places in primary school - some parents say that their kids are not necessarily in Turlough's place - that they need a separate unit, where they may have higher needs and other issues. They are disappointed that they do not have choice when it comes to secondary school. In some cases there is anger at certain schools that do not have provision. That is a very simple argument. It is a question of what needs to happen. What are the resources across the board that must be put in place so that we can offer what we need to offer? I accept we cannot wave a magic wand and produce what we need, but if the witnesses could give us the answer in the next five minutes it would be very worthwhile.