Ms Teresa Griffin:

Regarding the final issue, the report in The Irish Timeswas not accurate in its entirety. We provided the information at the same time that we did last year or even a few days earlier.

Senator Moran asked about SENOs. It is important for everyone to realise that there are 80 SENOs, 180,000 parents whose children have special educational needs and 4,000 schools that are seeking supports. It is sometimes difficult to contact SENOs, but if they get calls or messages are left, they get back to parents and schools.

This year, we have done something that I announced when I last appeared before the committee. We provided parental information evenings throughout the State, which were attended by 900 parents of children newly diagnosed with special educational needs and led by our SENOs. We worked with the HSE. The response from parents was overwhelmingly positive. It is to try to get that-----