Josepha Madigan (Dublin Rathdown, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

As the Senator will appreciate, it is a co-located shared campus with Scoil Eoin which already has 132 pupils. Scoil Colm is envisaged as catering for 40 students at the outset and it is hoped more thereafter. The intricacies and the finer details are being discussed at present, but I assure the Senator it is ongoing. There is quite a lot of work to do. We have been straitjacketed by Covid to a certain extent, not just with Scoil Colm and Scoil Eoin but in other areas of education, and it has been extremely difficult even to get on-site inspections done around the country. However, work on this is ongoing and should be done in a timely basis and definitely by September at the latest. As I said, if we can possibly do it before that we will. There are always increases in population as well as an exponential growth in autism around the country. I am determined we cater for these needs wherever they are situated. I thank the Senator again for her passion and interest in this particular area.