An Athlone mother is calling on the government to urgently address the lack of secondary school places for children in the Shannonside region.
Claire Earley has established a special Facebook page to highlight the plights of children with autism seeking place in secondary schools across the country
Some schools do have specific ASD units but often they can only accommodate just a handful of children , leaving many travelling long distances to seek education.
The Monksland resident believes some people are faced with the choice of travelling up to 45km for education or may be forced into home schooling due to the availability crisis :
She told the Joe Finnegan show the situation locally is especially dire.
''In the Shannoside region the five counties wide only have 36 Post primary classes and 83 primary ASD classes. So over a quarter of a million people and you have 36 post-primary and that includes the two that we have in Athlone, because that's classes as South Roscommon.''
