STORMONT EDUCATION Minister Caitríona Ruane will press her Dáil counterpart Batt O’Keeffe today to reverse his decision to postpone an investment in the cross-Border Middletown Centre for Autism.
The Ministers are due to meet at the Centre of Excellence on the Armagh-Monaghan border under the auspices of the North-South Ministerial Council.
Ms Ruane said she had received a letter from Mr O’Keeffe advising that his department had to review funding for all educational projects and it was not currently possible to enable the capital project to proceed at the Middletown centre as planned.
Mr O’Keeffe has said: “The decision doesn’t mean that funding is being withdrawn from Middletown. The department will, of course, keep the expansion of the Middletown centre under review in the context of improved economic circumstances.”
The proposed capital investment has yet to go out to tender, Ms Ruane’s department said yesterday, but a spokesman described its scale as “sizeable”.
The centre aims to provide specialist services and facilities for children and young people with autism, their families and helpers. It aims to make four “key provisions”: a learning support service, an educational assessment service, a training and advisory service and an autism research and information service.
When fully functioning it will accommodate about 20 children and those who assist them.
Ms Ruane said she would be pressing for “a renewed commitment to the centre to ensure all children on the autistic spectrum can avail of the best treatments possible”.
“I fully appreciate the implications of the current economic climate, but I am very disappointed at any potential to delay progress at Middletown as it is in difficult times that support for vulnerable children is paramount.”
The development of Middletown has been discussed at every meeting of the education sectoral North-South Ministerial Council meetings since 2002, she added.
Both departments have been committed to develop and jointly fund the project since 2002.
“My department will uphold our commitment and I hope we can jointly restate our support for Middletown,” Ms Ruane said. “I have written to Minister O’Keeffe to emphasise the importance of Middletown to children with autism, their families and the professionals who work with them throughout the island of Ireland.
“Already the staff have provided training for over 700 individuals from the education and health sectors. The development of the capital project has the potential to provide facilities for in-depth assessment programmes to enable local service providers to better meet the needs of our most challenged autistic children.”
The plan was announced by Martin McGuinness and Dr Michael Woods when they were education ministers in 2002.
Announcing the investment alongside Mr McGuinness at the time, Dr Woods said: “I am grateful to Minister McGuinness and his department for the willingness to work together, which makes the results of our joint efforts greater than the sum of the parts.” The Northern Department of Education expenditure on the project stands at approximately £1.5 million (€1.7 million) revenue and £1.731 million (€2 million) capital costs. It has also paid some £335,000 (€381,000) in project costs since 2001. The Middletown facility was acquired jointly by the two departments from the St Louis Order, for £3 million. Capital and revenue costs are shared equally between the departments.