Réada Cronin (Kildare North, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Yesterday, on World Autism Awareness Day, parents of neurodiverse children slept outside the Dáil for the second time this year. I went out to them after the voting block yesterday, so taken was I by their hard-hitting presentation in the audiovisual room yesterday.

Many of these children have no school place for September. They are being denied fundamental human and educational rights by the State. One of the mothers said to me last night that although her child is non-verbal, she is not. These parents are a formidable force. The Tánaiste should take the demand seriously.

In my constituency of Kildare North, Scoil Mochua in Celbridge was granted approval to set up autism spectrum disorder classrooms in 2021 but is still without them. Yet, the Government says it cannot guarantee a school place for every child in September. When are these schools going to be built? When will the education of our special children be taken seriously?

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