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

I thank the Minister of State for taking this question. I realise she is not the Minister of State responsible for this area but, in fairness, she is well aware of the issues we are dealing with when we are specifically talking about kids with disabilities and kids with autism. We know there are huge synergies with her own work and, obviously, the piece of work that needs to be done in respect of schools. I wish to put on the record the response received to a parliamentary question tabled specifically on the matter of provision. It stated that for the 2024-25 school year the National Council for Special Education, NCSE, had sanctioned 18 new special classes to open for September 2024 in County Louth. Of these classes, 14 were at primary level and four at post-primary level. This brings the number of special classes in the county to 101. The majority of these classes are autism classes. I assume the Minister of State will have the information in that regard and be able to tell me whether the new special classes have been delivered.

I recently met with All Abilities Action Alliance Louth. I met some of its members previously in the context of my involvement with the Louth Disability Cycling Club. As the Minister of State is well aware, that club has a huge connection with Kevin O'Brien and Variety. It is one of those really positive initiatives. Families can show up, kids get a service that is enjoyable and it allows families to meet and gather that information. As has often been said, you do not always have that one-stop shop we would all like to see. They can learn from one other.

The members of All Abilities Action Alliance Louth provided me with information. In fairness, this is the way they find it. There are 18 secondary schools in Louth, including two grammar schools, but only nine of these have special needs classes. Put another way, 50% of secondary schools in Louth have no special needs classes at all. I know there are particular issues in respect of schools. Ó Fiaich College, which my own autistic son, Turlough, attends, does not have an autism unit. It has plans but it is constrained by space. I accept that there are particular issues, but we all know we are talking about parents who are under severe pressure.

Reference has been made to Louth having 72 special needs classes, which would cater for 432 children with special needs. Of the nine schools that have special classes, however, one school has four special needs classes, four have three special needs classes, one has two special needs classes and three have only one special needs class. That gives us a total of 21 classes. This is 29% of the target the Minister of State, Deputy Naughton, has spoken about. When admission notices from the schools with these 21 classes are examined, the following are the number of places for 2025: two schools have six places each; one school has four places; one school has three places; two schools have two places each; one school has one place, which is for girls only; and two schools have zero places. The Minister of State can see the issue. We know what happens as a result - parents apply all over the place and for everything. The system is still not great.

I have spoken previously about the Education (Amendment) Bill 2024, which I brought froward. It would allow for parents of kids with autism and other disabilities to apply two years beforehand, which would enable schools to ensure they have all the i's dotted and t's crossed and make sure all the services are ready. There is a significant number of issues here and a huge number of parents are under severe pressure. What can be done? I will deal with the school inclusion model in my supplementary question.

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