Secondary schools must 'step up' when it comes to children with autism, says Taoiseach
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Secondary schools need to “step up” and provide spaces for children with autism, the Taoiseach has said.
Simon Harris criticised schools passing up on establishing autism classes.
“I know of schools who have had brand new extensions, millions of euro invested, and then we say ‘will you take an autism class?’ ‘Ah, you know, maybe next year’”.
“That is not an acceptable attitude,” Mr Harris said.
The Taoiseach said that it must become the “norm” that every school within a community works together to cater to the needs of all children.
He said that while progress has been made, there is more still to be done by agencies under the Government’s remit and that he would not accept a siloed approach.
“This unfortunately is a bit of an example of it and I do believe we’re going to make a lot more progress between now and the next school year,” Mr Harris said.
Figures from the Office of the Children’s Ombudsman detailed that there were still 126 children without a school place as of September 2. Mr Harris said that there has been success at ensuring adequate provision for children with special needs at primary school level.
“It cannot be beyond the education system to then plan for when a child in primary school needs a secondary school place,” Mr Harris said.
Meanwhile, the Taoiseach also confirmed that funding would be allocated within the budget to establish a scheme to deal with children going hungry over the summer months.
He said that while proposals from organisations like the Children’s Rights Alliance have been good, there needs to be a mechanism found to deal with holiday hunger.
“I think a relatively small sum of money here could make a very significant difference and I’d like to see it happen. I’d like to see it start very quickly.”
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