This welcome story omits one massive elephant in the room: private fee-paying schools - over half of Ireland's total which are located in South Dublin - are FORBIDDEN from opening ASD Special Class by @Education_Ire.

This places a massive unfair burden on the comparatively much smaller than average number of non-fee-paying schools who do offer ASD Special Classes, which are often over-subscribed by a factor of 4:1.

Remember: non-fee-paying schools are still hugely subsidised by @Education_Irl - their teachers' wages are paid by them. There is a genuine and valid argument to be had about whether this discriminates against students whose parents can't or won't pay for such schools.

But how weird is it to say "yes, we will subsidise your neurotypical child to attend a fee-paying school" but "no, if we fund an ASD Special Class in this fee paying school it'll be discriminating against parents who can't afford to send their neurodiverse children"???

BTW - and I should have stated this at the outset - my thread actually particularly refers to 2nd Level Schools as opposed to Primary Schools, where there is also gross under-provision as really importantly recognised in this article.

But the problem at 2nd Level incredibly is exponentially worse. The last time I counted there were just 7 ASD Special Classes in the whole of Dublin 2, 4, 6, 6W and 8 - a scandalous situation. But at 2nd Level...

There wasn't a single 2nd Level ASD Class across those 5 postcodes until 2 years ago when the new @EducateTogether opened one in Dublin 4.

When you consider how incrementally more stressful 2nd Level is to Primary for a student with ASD - more moving between classes, more new teachers and environments, puberty and social sophistication kicking in - this is not just absurd but tragic

Anecdotally and logically, there is a huge correlation between school drop outs at 2nd Level and ASD diagnoses.

For many people with ASD, the chance of making it to 3rd Level where obsessive focus on some particular area of interest might finally become an asset is being cruelly lost by this ill-conceived and unfair system.

And as a Society, instead of benefitting from what a young person with ASD might have to offer as a qualified, functioning and usefully employable member of the workforce, we will be forced to be support them in life-long unemployment and dependency.

One in 64 people in Ireland has autism. One in 64. Whatever administrative hassle or budgetary pressure may be involved in helping a significant proportion of those people to manage the school system successfully will be rewarded economically many times over.

Leaving aside the emotional cost of wasted potential and isolation for those individuals and the burden of lifelong support on their families and the State.

One last - at the moment, for these reasons outlined, completely theoretical - point: imagine you're the parent of a neurotypical child in a fee-paying school and @Education_Ire changes its policy so that an ASD Class can be established in your child's school. How do you feel?

Are you really worried that your child's education will be negatively affected by having somebody with ASD in their class? It won't be.

The worst that will happen is that your child will be exposed to another way of looking at the world. It will make them more empathetic and understanding of the rich variety of human reality.

And given the high statistical chance that you yourself will in the process of ageing acquire some neurodioversity or disability, that may be a value you come to appreciate in your child.

Sorry, rant over. Thank you @IrishTimes for your brilliant and important coverage of this issue, and to all those - especially @involve_d6_d6w and @AsIAmIreland - who've been campaigning so tirelessly on it.