'If we didn't get a few hours home support I'd be found dead somewhere' 

Fionn Crowley, aged 17. He has autism, an intellectual disability and is non-verbal. Living in Bandon, he attends St Gabriel’s special school in Cork, which is not running summer provision this year as the school is being renovated.

Parents of children with complex special educational needs want summer programmes for their children to be included in the school year, with many "dreading the summer" because of the lack of support.

It comes as Anne Rabbitte, the Minister for Disabilities, said that Ireland needs to look at a ‘Maltese model’, where children with special educational needs continue attending school for the entire summer.