I propose to take Questions Nos. 353 and 356 together.
My Department has received a further report from the National Council for Special Education, NCSE, on the application in question. This is currently being considered and my officials will revert to the NCSE if further information is required. My officials will notify all relevant parties when a decision on the application has been made. I wish to assure the Deputies that I am most anxious that all children, including children with autistic spectrum disorders, receive an education appropriate to their needs. It is in recognition of this that the Department currently provides the following facilities for the education of children with autism: 159 special classes for children with autism, attached to special and mainstream schools; 15 pre-school classes; five special classes for children with Asperger's syndrome; and 12 stand-alone facilities providing an applied behavioural analysis specific methodology. I wish to inform the Deputies that many of the children being proposed for the unit in question are currently in existing autism specific provision.