Ruairi Quinn (Dublin South East, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputy for his comments. I received the NCSE's report in the middle of May. Deputy Cannon, the officials in the Department and I are looking at the 28 recommendations the NCSE proposed. I have not yet received from within the Department a recommended response. The NSCE has proposed changes in the way resources are allocated to ensure that each student with special educational needs gets the supports he or she requires based on his or her actual needs. The NSCE also wants to ensure that children with special educational needs have immediate access to additional teaching support in mainstream schools. We will carefully review the recommendations and bring forward proposals for future improvements to our system. The changes will not happen overnight. It has been 20 years since the original allocation of resources and a great deal has been learned and much research has been conducted in that time. We will be looking at the recommendations in that context.