Irish Autism Action members yesterday handed over 15,000 petitions to the Department of Education calling for better education for autistic children.
Hundreds of parents and relatives marched from the GPO to the Department of Education in Dublin to demand State-funded Applied Behavioural Analysis (ABA) schools for their children.
Parents and psychologists believe that one-on-one ABA is the most effective way of teaching autistic children. But in the case of Seán Ó Cuanacháin, a six-year-old autistic boy from Arklow, Co Wicklow, Mr Justice Peart ruled last March that his State education - an eclectic and Model A programme - was "appropriate autism-specific educational provision".
Petitions demanding ABA were handed through the gates of the Department of Education to Minister for Education Mary Hanafin's personal secretary.
Speakers at the protest included the chairman of Irish Autism Action, Cormac Rennick, actor and singer Keith Duffy, the patron of IAA, Kathy Sinnott MEP, the CEO of IAA, Kevin Whelan, and Green Party chairman John Gormley.
Kevin Whelan said that current State provision for autistic children was "not adequate, not appropriate, and we're not going to take it any longer".
Ms Sinnott said she wanted to thank Seán's parents, Cian and Yvonne Ó Cuanacháin, on behalf of every special-needs child in Ireland. She urged parents to "keep the petitions coming [ as European law] would affect any Irish government we have at the time".