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

I thank the Minister of State. At the outset, I should have congratulated the Minister of State on his appointment because he is a perfect appointment for this role. He has the passion for it, having led the disabilities committee for a number of years. I am happy that Deputy Moynihan is in the role because he is sincere in respect of the work and efforts he will make on behalf of the children of Scoil Eoin and their parents.

I go back to my previous point and will refer to the response to my previous parliamentary question. The Department responded to say it is too expensive to demolish and rebuild. As outlined by the school's own engineer, a part of the school will have to be demolished anyway. I walked its corridors and the subsidence there is quite visible. This school will have to be rebuilt, in some shape or form, in the coming years. It is inevitable, given the deterioration there. I plead with the Department's officials to come out on site again, have a sit-down with the school and its engineers, and come up with a solution.

As I said, there are approximately 20 children here who have an autism diagnosis. The Minister of State is aware that were those children to have to even consider moving to another setting to avail of an ASD class position in another school, it might prove very difficult for some of them. There are variants in terms of the needs of each student. I ask that common sense prevail. Heads can be knocked together.

As I said, for years before Ballincollig became a part of my area, I came in here and gave out about how Ballincollig, as a large urban centre, had a deficit in the number of ASD classes for an area with its population size. To be honest with the Minister of State, I said that they outsourced their problem to villages such as Farran, Ovens, Dripsey and Inniscarra over the years. There is an obvious requirement for additional ASD class provision in Ballincollig. I just hope, as I said, that common sense can prevail and that people can sit around the table.

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