Joanna Tuffy (Dublin Mid West, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I have some questions myself on Ms Dempsey's point that all parents pay for psychological assessment. The committee has often been told that people with more money have an advantage over parents who have to go to the Society of St. Vincent de Paul. Is there any evidence of that?

We have discussed profiling. Let us consider the examination of the social context of schools. Could the education and training boards be a resource in this regard? For example, at one stage the local authority in my area carried out a social profiling of Lucan. It produced some information that would not have come out otherwise. We have a large amount of social housing but it is actually private rented accommodation. It is not what is usually counted as traditional social housing. Since education and training boards have a local governance aspect, could they assist schools and perhaps take the matter away from the principal, who may take the view that it is difficult to ask these questions?