Pádraig O'Sullivan (Cork North Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I wish to raise special education. I acknowledge the good work that has been done in Cork in the last couple of years, during the lifetime of this Government. To be parochial, I point to the provision of a new special school in Carrigaline and the identification of a site for a new special school in Glanmire, not to mention the refurbishment of St. Gabriel's Special School, which will be officially opened on 1 March. There is plenty of positive news in terms of the allocation of school places for kids with special needs.

To be fair, the Minister, Deputy Foley, has made progress on the provision of ASD classes but this is one area where I think we are still lacking. We face the scenario whereby in some cases kids are travelling for between 30 minutes and an hour to all corners of the county due to the lack of ASD classes in their local communities. We are letting down kids with special needs. We are letting down kids who are neurodiverse in terms of the ASD provision. While things are improving, they are not improving quickly enough. The focus for the forthcoming period needs to be on the escalation in the number of places provided to those kids locally.

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