Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance) | Oireachtas source

The Taoiseach said earlier that with regard to children with special needs, he is open to ideas in addressing the deficiency in services, supports and resources. I will give him one instance where he could intervene. I met this morning with Sallynoggin Killiney Educate Together National School, a school in existence for two years. It has two mainstream classes and one autism class. It has very well-trained and enthusiastic staff who have delivered this autism class. It has 25 people looking to get into that autism class for next year, and you can only have six in a class. It is ready to open a second autism class but the Department of Education's building unit has told the school there is no way it is getting a second class until it moves from the current temporary site to the permanent site in 2027 or 2028. That is crazy because the temporary building is set up to have a second floor with a second autism class. The National Council for Special Education, NCSE, has approved the second class but the Department of Education is saying, "No, we are not giving it to you". I ask the Taoiseach to intervene. This is siloed thinking and those children with autism will have nowhere to go if this second class is not provided.

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