Parents of autistic children say they fear for the future of two schools in Stillorgan, Co Dublin, and want the State to buy the land on which they are located. The schools are at Beechpark on the campus of a third school, a school for deaf children run by an order of nuns, the Daughters of the Cross.
The school for deaf children is to close at the end of June as only a handful of pupils remain there. An interim lease which the Eastern Health Board had on the schools for autistic children is also due to run out at the end of June. The two schools have more than 30 pupils between them.
The order has told the parties that it is considering its options, and that these could include the sale of about three acres of land. If that happened, the school building and a playground would remain, as would a residence for retired nuns.
One school for autistic children occupies the top floor of the school for deaf children. The order is believed to have suggested that the second school for autistic children should move into the ground floor. Parents say this would spell the end of ambitious health board plans for a pre-school service, a regional diagnostic centre and other facilities at Beechpark. They want the State to buy the land so that these facilities can be developed.
The Irish Times understands that since the two schools moved on to the Beechpark campus in 1995 the order has been frustrated at what it saw as a lack of action by the EHB to create any of the proposed services.
It is understood that the order is seeking specific plans from the EHB before it makes a decision on the future of the campus. In the meantime, the Department of Education and Science says it is "in communication" with the Daughters of the Cross.
The National Association for the Mentally Handicapped in Ireland has raised the issue with the Minister, Mr al Martin. Parents' representatives, meanwhile, have sought an early meeting with the Daughters of the Cross.