The National Council for Special Education (NCSE) is responsible, through its network of local Special Educational Needs Organisers (SENOs), for allocating resource teachers and special needs assistants to schools to support students with Special Educational Needs, including Autism. It is also the role of the NCSE to make appropriate arrangements to establish special classes in schools in communities where the need for such classes has been identified.

Special classes for children with ASD within mainstream schools are intended for children who, by virtue of their level of Special Educational Needs, cannot reasonably be educated in a mainstream class setting, but who can still attend their local school in a special class with a lower pupil–teacher ratio of 6:1 at primary level and 6:1.5 at post primary level, and also have Special Needs Assistant support normally amounting to 2 SNAs for a class of 6 children.

I am calling on the NCSE and the Minister for Education, Richard Bruton to create more ASD special classes in schools in the Nenagh and surrounds area. We have a real crisis at the moment. The schools that have special classes are doing a great job but they are also being forced into a very difficult situation wherby they have to choose between children because they are limited in the numbers of enrolement they can take. Some parents are effectively left with very little chance of getting a place for their children as they are outside the geographical area of the schools that have special classes and this is casuing them huge worry and anxiety so his needs to be addressed and plans put in place immediately.