Minister for Education Batt O’Keeffe today confirmed Government funding for a cross-border autism initiative was being “paused” and hit out at this Northern counterpart for “megaphone diplomacy”.
Mr O’Keeffe met Caitríona Ruane today at the Centre of Excellence on the Armagh-Monaghan border under the auspices of the North-South Ministerial Council at which the Middletown Centre for Autism was discussed.
“It hasn’t been possible for me to provide funding in this particular year, so what we’re doing is we’re pausing for the moment the funding for the centre but our commitment remains as strong as ever,” the Minister told RTE news.
Asked about criticism by Ms Ruane about the decision to pull funding, Mr O’Keefe said: “Generally speaking we deal with these things in the forum, not outside it. I don’t think megaphone diplomacy between two departments is a good thing to have developed.”
Ms Ruane said she had received a letter from Mr O’Keeffe advising that his department had to review funding for all educational projects and it was not currently.
The centre aims to provide specialist services and facilities for children and young people with autism, their families and helpers. It aims to make four “key provisions”: a learning support service, an educational assessment service, a training and advisory service and an autism research and information service.
When fully functioning it will accommodate about 20 children and those who assist them.
Ms Ruane said she would be pressing for “a renewed commitment to the centre to ensure all children on the autistic spectrum can avail of the best treatments possible”.
“I fully appreciate the implications of the current economic climate, but I am very disappointed at any potential to delay progress at Middletown as it is in difficult times that support for vulnerable children is paramount.”
The development of Middletown has been discussed at every meeting of the education sectoral North-South Ministerial Council meetings since 2002, she added.
Both departments have been committed to develop and jointly fund the project since 2002.
“My department will uphold our commitment and I hope we can jointly restate our support for Middletown,” Ms Ruane said. “I have written to Minister O’Keeffe to emphasise the importance of Middletown to children with autism, their families and the professionals who work with them throughout the island of Ireland.
“Already the staff have provided training for over 700 individuals from the education and health sectors. The development of the capital project has the potential to provide facilities for in-depth assessment programmes to enable local service providers to better meet the needs of our most challenged autistic children.”
The plan was announced by Martin McGuinness and Dr Michael Woods when they were education ministers in 2002.
Announcing the investment alongside Mr McGuinness at the time, Dr Woods said: “I am grateful to Minister McGuinness and his department for the willingness to work together, which makes the results of our joint efforts greater than the sum of the parts.” The Northern Department of Education expenditure on the project stands at approximately £1.5 million (€1.7 million) revenue and £1.731 million (€2 million) capital costs. It has also paid some £335,000 (€381,000) in project costs since 2001. The Middletown facility was acquired jointly by the two departments from the St Louis Order, for £3 million. Capital and revenue costs are shared equally between the departments.