Seán Haughey (Dublin North Central, Fianna Fail)
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Question 491: To ask the Minister for Education and Science if she has received a final report from the National Council for Special Education regarding an application to establish a school (details supplied) in Dublin 5; if this project will be sanctioned; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [3957/06]

Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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My Department recently received a further report from the National Council for Special Education, NCSE, on the application in question. This is being considered and my officials will revert to the NCSE if further information is required. My officials will notify all relevant parties when a decision on the application has been made. I am most anxious that all children, including children with autistic spectrum disorders, should receive an education appropriate to their needs. It is in recognition of this that my Department provides the following facilities for the education of children with autism: 159 special classes for children with autism attached to special and mainstream schools; 15 preschool classes; five special classes for children with Asperger's syndrome; and 12 stand-alone facilities providing an applied behavioural analysis, ABA, specific methodology. Many of the children being proposed for the unit in question are in existing autism specific provision.