A long-awaited class for children with autism in Athlone will open this morning.
In July of last year following months of campaigning by the Autism Parents Athlone group, six school places were announced by the Longford/Westmeath ETB at the town's community college.
However, the opening of the class faced a number of delays with some children having to accept places elsewhere or be home-schooled since September.
Local Councillor and Chairperson of the Athlone Community College Frankie Keena hopes today's opening will be the first of many of these classes in the region:
I want to commend the Athlone Autism Parents Group who were really particularly strong in lobbying for this class to be opened.
They are led by Claire Early and they do a lot of good work.
There is still a demand, there's still some students who are looking for places in a classroom.
The important thing to say is that is we cannot just stop here, we have to look for more classes to be opened in the Athlone area.
