Martin Kenny (Sligo-Leitrim, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I want to raise the issue of disability services. Sooey National School is a small rural school about 13 km from Sligo town. The school has 117 pupils and for the last year or more it has been engaging with the National Council for Special Education with the intention of providing two autism spectrum disorder, ASD, classes because all of the ASD classes in Sligo town are full. The school is making progress in respect of that. It has also applied to the building unit in the Department of Education to build a new general purpose room and the two ASD suites. To its dismay, the response the school received was that it would get a modular unit into which it could relocate one of the mainstream classes and then it could put the ASD unit inside the existing mainstream building. This does not suit at all because there will be no ASD suite, no sensory room, no proper facilities for the children and no hall or general purpose room. It is an inadequate response. I ask the Tánaiste to do something about this. I have a letter from the national school here and can give it to him. I ask him to ensure that adequate and proper facilities are put in place for these children.

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