Mr. Jim Mulkerrins:

We agree entirely on the risk regarding school league tables. We are anxious, therefore, to avoid anything pointing to schools that are doing well and, conversely, to schools that are regarded as not doing very well. The Deputy mentioned issues regarding school programmes. It is important to point out that there are many programmes in place to support teachers working with children with autism spectrum disorders and a range of other special educational needs. They are typically supported by means of provision from the NCSE. Work to develop those programmes is informed by the Middletown centre. It is a significant part of a much bigger joined-up process. Everything the centre does informs development work in this area. I refer to the development work that the NCSE is doing as well as the development work that Mary Immaculate College is doing with its particular programme. Dr. Finn Ó Murchú, while he was in the inspectorate, was involved in a major inspection of the Middletown model and he is very familiar with it. There is again much joined-up thinking in this regard. Turning to encouraging schools, from my own experience the difficult bit is to encourage schools to get to the starting point, to open the class and to enrol the child. There is a real willingness to continue once schools have opened classes. Engagement from that point on is wholehearted because it is possible to see the benefits-----