Micheál Carrigy (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister of State for taking this Commencement matter. I know it is a situation of which he is very well aware. In the Athlone area and its environs, there are eight parents who do not have a school place for their children within the Athlone school area for next September. These eight children have been in autism spectrum disorder, ASD, classes within primary school settings. We now have a situation where there is no school available within Athlone or within 55 km of the town for them to get an education. That is not acceptable.

A number of people have also been in contact with me whose children are within the post-primary schools within the area but would prefer if there was another class for them to go to. We need in the region of 12 to 18 places to be made available within the Athlone area for the kids to go to school. The reality is that these children are entitled to be educated close to their home. As it stands, some of these children will have to travel a return journey of 100 km per day to be able to get an education. This is at a time when our school transport system requires that people go to their nearest school and yet, we are not accommodating that for families. Parents need certainty.

I will give the Minister of State an idea of the surrounding areas. In Longford, at present, we have 48 ASD classes for an enrolment of 4,205. There is low availability in two of the schools. There are no places available in Mullingar, Ballinasloe or Roscommon. Those are all the surrounding areas of Athlone town to where those families now look to have their children educated. I have been in contact with the office of the Minister of State, Deputy Madigan. I know she is working on it but we are coming to the end of the school term and these parents have to get certainty that their children can be educated in the Athlone area, in the environs of where they live, in September 2022.