Jim Daly (Cork South West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

In case I was not understood, I wish to clarify my position. I welcome reform wholeheartedly. It is very important in all sectors, but particularly in the case of education. Certainly, reform is required in the special needs area. While I am very supportive of some of the measures advocated in the NCSE report, what I hope is that we can maintain the budget and funding that is there for special needs education for children with learning difficulties. While the way in which the money is spent should be reviewed and challenged at every opportunity, it is important to get a commitment in principle from the Department to continue to ring-fence the amount of funding that has been applied to date.