Mother challenges exclusion of autistic boy, 16, from west of Ireland school
Permission has been granted by the High Court to the mother of a 16-year-old boy with autism to challenge his exclusion from a school following an alleged failure to carry out a proper assessment of him after he was first admitted to the school.
The boy, who cannot be named, was admitted to the private school in the west of Ireland as a boarder at a time when he was also suffering from the flu, Eugene Gleeson SC, for the mother, told the court.
However, for the four to five days he was there no proper intellectual and physical assessment was carried out on him before he was excluded from the school and is now being homeschooled, counsel said.
The decision to remove him was appealed but his mother says no proper evidence was presented to the appeals committee which heard his case.
His mother says that as a result of having to be taught at home "he has gone downhill intellectually", counsel said.
Mr Justice Seamus Noonan granted Mr Gleeson leave to bring judicial review proceedings over the decision to remove him against the secretary general of the Department of Education and Skills and the appeals committee.
The application was made on a one-side only represented basis.
Mr Justice Noonan said the case could come back to court in three weeks.
