The parents of a severely autistic 14-year-old boy have failed in a High Court battle to force the State to provide their son with an education in an autism-specific centre in Wales.
Annette and Colm O'Carolan had argued that there is no such service in Ireland.
However, today Mr Justice John McMenamin found that the issue was not whether the Irish centre offered by the State was better than the Welsh centre, but whether it was appropriate.
Since February 2003, Lewis O'Carolan has received no education.
His behavioural difficulties have increased resulting in dangers to himself and considerable damage to the family home.
His parents began High Court proceedings against the Department of Education and the Health Service Executive.
They secured a placement for Lewis in autism-specific centres in the UK but the State refused to fund them.
The State offered a placement in north Dublin but the family regarded what was on offer as completely inappropriate for their son's needs.
Today, the High Court decided that the proposed placement at Woodlawn is adequate to satisfy the State's statutory and constitutional duties to Lewis.
It said there was no legal authority that parents are entitled to choose the exact type of education which their child receives.
MEP criticises judgement
Reacting to the judgement, the disability rights campaigner, Kathy Sinnott, said today was a black day for people with special needs and their families.
The Independent MEP said she believed the High Court had ignored the judgement in the Sinnott case.
Five years ago, the court ruled the State had failed to adequately provide for the education of her son.
Mrs Sinnott said today's ruling showed the Government believes people with special needs are an inconvenience, who must be made to disappear.
