The autism unit in old Castleknock

There’s an autism unit in a spanking new block,
They say that it’s state of the art.
It graces the parish of old Castleknock
In a school with a very big heart.
The school has been opened for over a year,
But folk are both angry and shocked,
That, though the new school is a source of great cheer,
The autism unit’s still locked.

Mary Harney is blaming financial constraints
For this shocking, political gaffe.
Mary Hanafin’s shrugged off the flood of complaints,
Saying, “Open the block without staff!”
But to open the unit, replies the school board,
(While the Marys cling tight to their purses)
Is like throwing wide open a hospital ward
Without any doctors or nurses.

At home, a young mum puts her life on the shelf
And stares at the walls of her cage,
Obliged to try teaching her young son herself,
Although he is six years of age.
But she’s no professional, she hasn’t the skills
To teach him to learn and to play,
And while the two Marys hide up in the hills,
The boy’s getting worse by the day.

There’s an autism unit in a spanking new block,
They say that it’s state of the art.
It graces the parish of old Castleknock
In a school with a very big heart.
And the Ministers’s salaries go through the roof,
And deflection’s the name of the game,
And the HSE sits there unmoved and aloof,
To Ireland’s abominable shame.