A Limerick couple has told RTÉ News of their frustration and heartbreak after two years of unsuccessful attempts to get suitable education for their seven-year-old son.
Padraig O'Dwyer, who has autism, requires a place in a specialised unit, but there are none available.
The State authority, the National Council for Special Education, says additional places will open in Limerick city this coming September - but schools in the city say they will not be enough.
Seven-year-old Pádraig has been on a waiting list for a place in a special school since he was three.
When no place was forthcoming a year and a half ago his parents enrolled him in his local mainstream school, which he attends for just two and a half hours a day.
Both his parents and the school agree that any more would be too much for him.
Pádraig's mother Catherine Duffy has said the school's busy environment overwhelms him and he is not learning.
Limerick couple struggle to find specialised school for son with autism https://t.co/4EEzNu0gNLhttps://t.co/qo36Fs0PAf
— RTÉ News (@rtenews) March 8, 2016
The school, Milford National School, says Pádraig, who is non-verbal, needs intensive speech and language therapy, occupational therapy and physiotherapy, none of which it can offer. The school also says he is a significant flight risk.
Limerick city has just one autism unit to cater for children of Pádraig's age.
That unit, which is attached to a local primary school, has six places, all filled, and a waiting list of 13.
Another special school in Limerick is also full and oversubscribed. An additional 12 places are due to open in another city school next September.
But that school has told RTÉ News that it already has 30 applications for those 12 places.
It has described the shortage of places for children with autism as chronic and says the additional provision will not be enough.
