A Longford Councillor is calling on the Minister for Education, Norma Foley, to change legislation in order to require secondary schools to provide mandatory autism support units for children with spectrum disorders in areas lacking services.
Councillor Garry Murtagh lodged a motion at a recent meeting of Longford County Council to make a united call on the Education Minister to enact new guidelines.
The Fine Gael representative says that many children in the Shannonside region are being forced to leave either their catchment area or county in order to receive support at a specialist support unit.
Councillor Murtagh says there are many schools strategically placed throughout the region that could develop these units with the support of school staff and the Department of Education.
He says schools need to be the driving force behind developing these Autism/Discovery units, as funding and support is available from the Department:
