Noel Harrington (Cork South West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the witnesses for their presentations and submissions and acknowledge the role of Senator Mary Moran, the joint committee's rapporteur on this issue, in bringing this issue to a head. I will make one observation before asking a few questions. Unlike many other members, I do not have teaching experience. As a parent and layperson, the contributions I have heard and the submissions I have read have opened my eyes. I, too, had come to assume that people would fight for more resource hours or special needs assistants without digging into what they were getting for the resources being allocated.

Since Circular 30/14 was issued, has there been any feedback on whether the allocation of special needs assistant has improved? Is the position now satisfactory or could additional work be done to build on the circular? Has an exercise been done on the approach of other jurisdictions to special needs assistants in primary schools? I refer, in particular, to jurisdictions with education systems that are similar to the Irish system. Did discussions take place on the possibility of allocating special needs assistants to preschool children with a view to reducing the requirement for further SNA allocations through the primary school network on the basis of the progress made in preschool?