A Longford Senator says he's very disappointed that more special schools aren't offering summer programmes for their pupils this year.
Fine Gael's Micheal Carrigy, who's also Chair of the Oireachtas Committee on Autism says only around 40 of the 120 special schools nationally will be offering a programme of two weeks for their students.
He says the programme helps our most vulnerable children who might well regress during the long summer break.
Senator Carrigy says there had been issues with delays in payment for teachers taking part, and with the eligibility criteria for teachers on the programme, but those matters have been resolved.
He says the national situation is replicated locally with only one of two of the special schools offering any programme this year…
'So we're looking at again for the Summer of 2023 that only in the region of 15 percent of the kids in special schools, and I want to emphasize that these are the kids with the highest needs for which the programme was brought into originally, are not going to have a school based programme again this year.
I personally don't think, as I say working on this committee and we met families and we met parents, and we know the stress they go through knowing that this is ahead of them again.'
