Parents of children with autism in south Dublin forced to relocate to get school place for child
Parents of children with autism are being forced to apply to up to 30 schools to secure a place for their child in the South Dublin area.
Involve Autism: D6/D6W - a parents support group - says that some parents have had to relocate to other parts of the country to get a place.
Last November, the Minister for Education urged schools to address the crisis but soon after this the National Council for Special Education recommended that children with Special Educational Needs would effectively be mainstreamed.
The group is holding a special meeting tonight as they say this has led to confusion over how their children are to be educated.
Chairperson of Involve Autism Miriam Kenny says parents have had to take extreme measures.
She said last year a child "spent the whole of the year at home, with home tutor, and had five different tutors because it was so difficult to get a tutor."
Ms Kenny said the child eventually found a school place "but it's [a] 46km round trip every day for that child to go to school. And that's in the Dublin traffic.
"And he's across the road from his own school, it's 200m away."
