TALKS BETWEEN Department of Education officials and autism campaigners are still under way, and agreement has not yet been reached.
Progress has been made, it is understood, since the Irish Autism Ireland chief executive, Kevin Whelan, sharply criticised the Department of Education on Monday last.
Minister for Education Mary Hanafin met a group of up to 30 Fianna Fáil TDs on Tuesday evening, though she remained tight-lipped about progress.
However, it is believed the department is ready officially to recognise all 12 Applied Behavioural Analysis (ABA) schools listed in last year's Programme for Government. Fianna Fáil TDs who have campaigned for months on the issue want all 12 of these schools recognised, as well as a half-dozen others.
In addition, they have sought the construction of a system that would allow for schools to be established later to get accreditation and State funding. Some ABA schools are half-funded by the State, though the parents of children concerned are left to raise the rest of the money on their own.
