Families of students who were due to start the now-deferred University College Dublin (UCD) certificate for people with intellectual disabilities are to lodge a formal complaint with the university and lobby politicians in an attempt to have the course reinstated.
The course in Citizenship and Advocacy, which won the O2 Ability Award for UCD earlier this year, was cancelled earlier this month just three years after being launched as the first qualification of its kind in Europe.
A UCD spokeswoman yesterday attributed a lack of funding to the decision to defer enrolment of another cohort of students. The family of William Deasy (24), who was due to begin the course in October, said that they had yet to be given an explanation from the university and spoke of their disappointment at receiving what they described as a "cold letter" from UCD on July 6th.
Mr Deasy's mother, Ita, said: "I feel very annoyed. You can't do this type of thing to people with autism." Now she and other families are to write to the president of UCD, Dr Hugh Brady, and to TDs in an attempt to get an explanation for the deferral of the course and receive a commitment to have it reinstated.
The Labour Party has also urged the university to reconsider its decision.