Maureen O'Sullivan (Dublin Central, Independent)
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121. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the extent of the engagement she has had with Middletown Centre for Autism and services offered to school children with autism; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [25794/15]

Jan O'Sullivan (Limerick City, Labour)
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The Middletown Centre for Autism is a jointly funded initiative between my Department and the Department of Education in Northern Ireland supporting the promotion of excellence in the development of education to children and young people with autistic spectrum disorders.

The centre is a second tier service to complement existing provision for children with autism and it provides continuing professional development for schools and teachers and training courses for parents. It also has a research division. Currently the centre is providing direct outreach assessment and learning support to children in the south on a pilot basis.

In January of this year the Minister for Education in Northern Ireland and I opened the Centre's successful major international conference on the theme of "Enabling Education" which attracted professional staff and parents of children with autism. Subsequent to the North South Ministerial Council meeting in March we both visited the centre and met the management and staff.