John McGahon (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I have tabled this matter after the Minister of State's recent visit to Dundalk. Two weeks ago she kindly came to County Louth and went to Coláiste Chú Chulainn and the CBS primary school. She met the principal of Coláiste Chú Chulainn, Thomas Sharkey, and she also met Maria Doyle, a teacher in the CBS primary school. Mr. Sharkey and Ms Doyle made some key points that day and I wanted to bring them back to this House.

There is a real fear among the school community and parents in County Louth about the provision and allocation of school places for children with autism going into secondary schools. That fear is not based on anecdotes or what somebody might have said to somebody else. The fear is based on the data on the National Council for Special Education, NCSE, website. North of a line from Kilsaran in County Louth to the Meath-Monaghan border, there are 24 primary schools which have 24 special classes with six pupils in each class, which is 144 students in total. Half of the geographical county lies north of that line and includes the town of Dundalk containing 42,000 people. That area has 24 special classes in primary schools. However, the eight secondary schools have only three special classes, accommodating 18 pupils. In the coming years we will need to get 144 students into 18 spaces. The Minister of State officially opened two of them. Two of them are in Coláiste Chú Chulainn and the third is in St. Vincent's school.

The issue is about ensuring we have capacity and availability in secondary schools in the north Louth and Dundalk area to accommodate the primary school pupils in special classes. Families are sitting around the kitchen table trying to make decisions on which secondary school their children might go to. I know the Minister of State agrees with me on this because we have discussed it. It is unfair and wrong that a family should have to make a decision about where to send one child and not another based on the diagnosis one child might have. Children have an absolute right to go to the same school as their siblings, neighbours or friends. We want to see capacity in all those eight secondary schools in Dundalk and north Louth.

What will be done for September 2023? The 18 spaces in those three schools are already full for next September. I personally know of six pupils who will need one of those 18 spots, but it is oversubscribed. Those six students will be without a space for September 2023. What will be done in the short term, by September 2023, to try to accommodate those extra students? What will be done in the long term for the years from 2024 to 2028 to ensure the 144 pupils currently in primary education have a space when they reach secondary school?