Pat Buckley (Cork East, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I thank Deputy Stanton for raising this important question regarding new special schools in Midleton. I have listened to the Minister of State's replies. I welcome anything positive but, as Deputy Stanton said, Glanmire to Rochestown is a long way with traffic, the tunnel and the whole lot for families to travel. We have massive population growth in east Cork, predominantly on the Midleton side towards Youghal. On top of that, I have often discussed the constituency database here and a fresh one will come out shortly from the latest census. From the last constituency database information, I can tell the Minister of State that over 14,500 people had a disability in the east Cork area.

I appeal to the Minister of State. We will work together. We do not have to play party politics all the time to get local representation for local people. I would support the Minister of State's suggestion of coming to Midleton, looking at the area and trying to resolve the issue as fast as possible.

See this speech in context