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

If one assumed the distribution of medical conditions such as autism, Asperger's syndrome, are evenly distributed across the profile of the entire population, we cannot say the resources are evenly distributed because a person who can afford to get a diagnosis for his or her child can access resources. We have received correspondence from people, many of whom have borrowed money. The Society of St. Vincent de Paul talked about making money available for such a diagnosis. It needs to be examined and I have asked Mr. Stack to do so.

We have not got agreement on the introduction of the capital assets test for student grants. There are two kinds of capital asset tests: assets that a household may possess irrespective of the economic activity of the household; and working capital required for running a farm or small business. I make a very clear distinction between the two. During a debate I received a telephone call from a person in the south west of the country, not in Deputy Griffin's constituency, who indicated that a person had qualified for a third-level grant although one of the parents had more than €300,000 in prize bonds. The current assessment is purely an income assessment so there is some room for equity. A rough calculation more than a year ago of the saving was of the order of €6 million. This is not a precise figure.

There are 55 fee-paying schools in the country. The standard pupil-teacher ratio in the free post-primary schools is one teacher for every 19 pupils. As a result of last year, the reduced ratio for fee-paying schools is one teacher for every 23 pupils. That may be looked at again. As Deputy McConalogue said, given what we are charged to do, we must examine everything and cannot ring fence one particular part of it. All of it is stressful and I have received strong representations from across the spectrum on this. Would the Minister of State at the Department of Education and Skills, Deputy Cannon, like to add to any of that?