Mr. Fergal Kelly:

I will dip in and out on various issues that were raised. Deputy Funchion raised the issue of the lack of a uniform approach whereby different schools have different levels of resources. I was recently in a school in County Westmeath which has great resources, including fantastic classrooms, well resourced sluice rooms, sensory rooms and sensory garden. Other schools may have a prefab for those purposes. Inequality of resources leads to difficulties. I checked this morning - I am open to correction - and noted that a grant of €6,500 is available for the cost of furniture and general equipment for the setting up of a new special needs class. A grant of €6,500 was available when I was part of a school community that opened a special class in approximately 2006. The inequality between schools requires further consideration. Some recently built units have fantastic resources.

I was very struck by Senator Ruane's description of her experiences. Sometimes it takes us a long time for parents to get to know their children. It obviously takes a school time to get to know the children in a special class, how they function, what their triggers are and how to deal with those triggers. It leads back to the issues of time, resources and training.

Senator Gallagher referenced difficulties for principals. I wish to return to the situation in regard to bus escorts. The day of a school principal may begin at 7.30 a.m. with a call to say the bus escort is sick and cannot travel on the bus and the bus will not travel without the escort. Principals have to deal with significant issues and make decisions on them, which is difficult. A further difficulty was caused by a shortage of teachers last year. That caused further complications for principals and boards of management in terms of getting a trained substitute with the necessary expertise for a teacher who was ill or could not take his or her special class.

They are some of the issues. I mentioned that where an autism class is embedded over a period of years, there is no doubt it enhances the education of the students. I still have in my mind the image of a school I was involved with. One sixth class boy was a non-verbal child. Yet, he was integrated with 30 robust sixth class boys. The care and attention they showed that boy because they had grown up with him was extraordinary. The special needs unit was part of their school life. The empathy they showed the boy when he integrated was a joy to behold. That is the model we are keen to see prevail.