Denis Naughten (Roscommon-Galway, Independent) | Oireachtas source

Last Monday the Government announced the allocation of a €375 million support package for schools to reopen in September. I have consistently highlighted the need to reopen schools not only because of its importance for children's education and their mental health due to the lack of engagement with classmates and even the lack of a regular routine but also for the mental health of parents, especially parents who have been juggling with childcare and employment since last March with no childcare support. We have already seen the impact of the lack of childcare on front-line healthcare staff, and we are seeing it again now as parents struggle to find childcare for young children. If schools do not reopen in September there will be a far bigger childcare crisis.

However, before we face that crisis there is a current crisis with regard to the provision of school places for children with additional needs. This spilled over into the public domain when the former Minister for Education and Skills, Deputy McHugh, wrote to 39 primary schools in south Dublin on 26 June last directing them to establish special classes for four and five year old children with autism in order to immediately accommodate 43 children who have no school next September. The then Minister took this decision on foot of the advice of the National Council for Special Education, NCSE, which had failed to convince schools in south Dublin to cater voluntarily for students within their catchment. On Tuesday evening, the Minister of State with responsibility for special education, Deputy Madigan, told the Dáil that she understands some progress has already been made and that the NCSE is working with several schools to establish classes in south Dublin for the coming school year.

While a proactive approach has been taken by the Department of Education and Skills to accommodate 43 children in south Dublin next September, the opposite approach has been taken for eight children in south Roscommon and east Galway. St. Teresa's special school, Ballinasloe, is willing to establish an ASD class from next September following a request from the NCSE but the building unit in the Department of Education and Skills says that it cannot have a prefab classroom in place in time. St. Teresa's is so committed to accommodating the eight local children that it has sourced alternative temporary accommodation pending the delivery of the prefab unit but the response from the Department is the same, that due to time constraints the Department cannot open an ASD class in St. Teresa's school, Ballinasloe, this year.

Why are children with autism being treated differently simply because of their address?

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