Kathleen Funchion (Carlow-Kilkenny, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

The issue has become more prevalent in recent years. I welcome the Minister's statement that it will be kept under review but we will keep raising it. Schools in Kilkenny city are fully subscribed and even have waiting lists. People are also having to travel outside the city and then encounter the problem of school transport where they are seen as having chosen a school that is not closest to them, and, therefore, do not qualify for free travel. They must apply for concessionary tickets. The Minister knows what a nightmare that is. That is part of why this is a problem.

The Educate Together system deserves a secondary school and parents and children who have had the experience at primary level deserve to continue that into secondary school, if they wish.

It also gives an opportunity for additional autism spectrum disorder, ASD, classes, which is something I raise here as often as possible. There will be three new-build secondary schools - the schools themselves are not new - such as Coláiste Pobal Osraí, the CBS, and the technical school. It should be impressed on them that they must have ASD classes. Information on this seems to mixed. The NSCE would have schools believe that they must have these ASD classes whereas the schools themselves seem to think differently.

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