A TOTAL of 17 special schools in the Dublin region are waiting to find out from the Health Service Executive (HSE) whether they will be provided with vital therapeutic services for pupils with autism.
The issue of one of the schools - the autism unit of the Educate Together national school in Castleknock - made headlines in recent weeks after it emerged that the facility was lying idle because it could not get the therapeutic staff it needs.
However, it emerged yesterday that another 16 schools do not have the staff they need to deliver therapeutic services such as speech and language or occupational therapy, which are crucial to helping children with autism to develop.
The autism outreach unit in Castleknock has been told by the HSE that it, along with other schools, will find out in the next two weeks whether it will have the therapeutic services it has been requesting. The unit, which has been completed for more than a year, has yet to open because of the lack of staff.
Lucy Keaveney, deputy principal of the Educate Together school in Castleknock, said the Department of Education had provided them with a beautiful facility which could not open until proper services were received.
The school only found out that it was one of 17 schools in a similar situation by way of a parliamentary question provided to the local Fianna Fáil TD and minister, Brian Lenihan, RTÉ News reported yesterday.
The parent of one of the children who should be attending the unit at Castleknock, Gail Murphy, says the continuing delay over the staffing of the facility is causing her six-year-old son Luca to regress.
Fine Gael leader Enda Kenny, who has raised the issue in the Dáil, said the lack of action on therapeutic services made a mockery of the State's pledge to cherish all the children of the State equally.
"The special unit is beautifully designed and constructed and is fully equipped. It is immoral not to have it opened for the purpose for which it is intended," he said.
Mr Kenny said that therapists who worked with children in autism outreach units should be employed by the Department of Education and not the HSE. The recruitment embargo at the HSE meant that autism outreach units were not being provided with occupational therapy, speech and language therapy and behavioural therapy specialists.
In response, the Taoiseach has said that the HSE is working to improve access to therapists around the country.
He said there had been a traditional shortage of therapists and that it was not a matter of resources.
"If you recall, in the last few years we have upped the number of places in the relevant universities and institutes so we can increase the supply of therapists coming out of our colleges because there has been a traditional shortage of speech therapists and language specialists in this area," Mr Ahern said.
