Willie O'Dea (Limerick City, Fianna Fail)

St. Munchin's College, Corbally, Limerick city, is accommodating two autism special needs classes at present in one classroom, which is completely and totally unacceptable. It has made an application to the Department of education under the ASA scheme for refurbishment funding, which would solve the problem and would, in fact, enable it to accommodate more autistic students in the years ahead, for which there is a huge demand. The Minister in a written reply last week told me the request had been received and is being assessed. I have to say it is being assessed for an extraordinarily long time. Can pressure be put on the Department of education to end this long-running assessment and get a successful conclusion? The need is great and is growing.

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