Ruairi Ó Murchú (Louth, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

There seems to be a theme in the lack of ASD units and the interaction at times between the Department, the NCSE and schools. When people are looking for extensions, planning permission and so on, it becomes even more difficult. I have been approached by a number of parents looking for their kids to get into what they had hoped would be a second autism unit in De La Salle College in Dundalk. I will read out what these parents have been told. The school wrote to the parents of one child that, in respect of their enrolment application, it was, unfortunately, unable to accommodate their son because the Department had failed to provide the school with an adequate ASD modular unit.

Planning permission was submitted and was dealt with in July 2021 by Louth County Council. It is now with the Department, at stage 2B, and the NCSE has rightly put pressure on the school because it wanted an autism unit, so a teacher and a classroom were given up and the school took in a class in September 2023, although that class has to be made available back to the school for this September. A modular unit has been provided for that ASD class but there is no room for a modular unit for the planned second ASD class. Perhaps a double modular unit would have worked. I do not know. Either way, there is nothing in play.

We could all talk about the issues with planning permission and so on. I have also dealt with primary schools that expected enrolment to take place for ASD students last September and they are just hoping it can happen this September. We have a serious issue here but I do not know what I am going to say to these parents. I submitted a parliamentary question and the reply was not really an answer insofar as what happened and what the solution is.

See this speech in context