Josepha Madigan (Dublin Rathdown, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputy for her question. There is real representation from Cork in the Chamber this morning. It shows the level of commitment but also of concern from the county and city on the part of the public representatives in respect of special education. It is important to stress that 92% of special classes are to support autism in general terms. That would apply to Cork as well. It is interesting to look at the research from Cork conducted during 2020 and 2021. The Department and the NCSE had been using a prevalence rate for autism of 1.55% since 2014. The research from Cork from 2020 and 2021 put that at 3.38%, a significant growth. That is something the Department and the NCSE are trying to mitigate in terms of forward planning. It is not just that there are more children but also that more children are being diagnosed with autism and they need to be catered for.

I mentioned earlier to the Deputy's Cork colleagues that there are 15 special schools in Cork at the moment catering for 970 children, some of whom have autism. There will be an increased need for autism classes at primary level, especially among young children. Part of that is because the prevalence rate has increased. There are 23 early intervention classes in Cork, therefore, and 15 special schools, as I mentioned. Overall in Cork there are 299 special classes at primary level and 42 of those are new. There are 121 at post-primary level, 23 of which are new. That is 420 special classes in total of which 65 are new.

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