Ms Bláthnaid Ní Ghréacháin:

Teastaíonn uaim díreach buíochas a ghabháil leis an Teachta as an tacaíocht agus an t-aitheantas a léirigh sí ar riachtanais na hearnála.

In the context of the transition from naíonraí to primary schools, we, as an organisation, actively encourage that transition because we see it as a basic and important step for children. Not all primary schools would specify attendance at a naíonra in their enrolment criteria and there are different reasons for that. It could be geographical, basically, that there is no naíonra in that area. Possibly, even the naíonra could be oversubscribed. If the primary school is oversubscribed as well, that adds another complication to it. Also, we have to acknowledge that not all parents will choose a preschool for their children for varying reasons. However, a large number of Gaelscoileanna do prioritise. This is particularly important now seeing as the ECCE scheme has been expanded to two years that offers children the opportunity to be immersed fully in the language. That gives children with no Irish coming into the system and children with varying degrees of Irish an added advantage when they reach primary school that they have those linguistic supports behind them.

In terms of special educational needs, as weak as the provisions are in English-medium schools, they are very poor in Irish-medium schools. There is a wide spectrum of special educational needs throughout the Irish-medium sector. It is growing - we very much welcome this - but there are no supports in place for those involved and there is no training available. There is no recognition that they have particular needs in an Irish-medium school. It is something that we are trying to address with the different partners at present.