Mr. Francie Molloy:

The high number of children with disabilities who attend integrated schools was mentioned earlier. From my experience in Dungannon, I thought it was another part of the educational programme because it gives young people the opportunity of working with other children who have disabilities. I was greatly impressed by that when I was a member of the council in Dungannon. It is something we do not see enough of. When I was in school I never met someone with a disability whereas in the school in Dungannon, the children were helping a child in a wheelchair and helping another child to get about. That experience is very useful.

I live close to Moy and Clintyclay, and therefore I am between two situations. If a school is failing, and particularly a primary school, the danger is that people come up with the idea of creating an integrated school, but there must be more planning involved in that. In the Moy situation, it was envisaged that this would be the first step. It could have become integrated in the future. The intentions of those who were planning it and the ideas behind it were good in terms of how it would develop. There was too much emphasis on the fact that there would still be two schools on the one campus, but sometimes that can be a good development. In the Omagh example, the Irish language and the other schools were put on the one campus. Instead of building new schools, if schools can share the one facility it can lead to an integrated school in the future, which would bring people together who would not normally meet. Do the representatives agree that can be an advantage in the future?