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(Ireland) Co Louth: 101 special classes; 'majority ...are autism classes'

Oct 10, 2024, Louth Live: Dundalk TD raisies lack of provision for autistic children in Louth in Dáil
"50% of secondary schools in Louth have no special needs classes at all", Deputy Ruairí Ó Murchú says

The Sinn Féin deputy said the National Council for Special Education (NCSE) had sanctioned 18 new special classes to open for the 2024-25 school year in County Louth.


“Of these classes, 14 were at primary level and four at post-primary level”, he said.


“This brings the number of special classes in the county to 101. The majority of these classes are autism classes.”


He continued: “I recently met with All Abilities Action Alliance Louth who provided me with information.


“In fairness, this is the way they find it. There are 18 secondary schools in Louth, including two grammar schools, but only nine of these have special needs classes.


“Put another way, 50% of secondary schools in Louth have no special needs classes at all.

“I know there are particular issues in respect of schools. Ó Fiaich College, which my own autistic son, Turlough, attends, does not have an autism unit. It has plans but it is constrained by space.


“I accept that there are particular issues, but we all know we are talking about parents who are under severe pressure.


“Reference has been made to Louth having 72 special needs classes, which would cater for 432 children with special needs.


 “Of the nine schools that have special classes, however, one school has four special needs classes, four have three special needs classes, one has two special needs classes and three have only one special needs class.


“That gives us a total of 21 classes. This is 29% of the target the Minister of State, Deputy Naughton, has spoken about.


“When admission notices from the schools with these 21 classes are examined, the following are the number of places for 2025: two schools have six places each; one school has four places; one school has three places; two schools have two places each; one school has one place, which is for girls only; and two schools have zero places.


“We know what happens as a result - parents apply all over the place and for everything. The system is still not great.”


In response the Minister of State for Disabilities Deputy Anne Rabbitte said budget 2025, almost €2.9 billion [$3.2B] was allocated to additional teaching and care supports for children with special educational needs, which represents an increase of 6%, or €159 million [$174M] , on last year’s funding.


She continued: “Of the new special classes sanctioned for the 2024-25 school year, 16 are in County Louth, with 13 at primary level and three at post-primary level.


 “This brings the total number of special classes in Louth to 98 - 75 at primary and 23 at post-primary level. The vast majority of these classes are autism classes and have a teacher-student ratio of 1:6.”


Deputy Murchú responded saying it “seems that those numbers have dropped off from an earlier parliamentary question I asked”.


“We are now talking about 98, which is the figure the group I met were spoken to about, whereas there was a plan for 101. Three classes have now dropped off.


“I would like to think everything will be done to make sure that is delivered because we are dealing with a lack of provision.”



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