Mr. Mark O'Connor:

We do not know. At a briefing, the Department had indicated that all children with Down's syndrome would be allowed to attend it and then when more detailed information on the scheme came out, it curtailed that to primary school children.

We have no idea why that is. There is no magic button and nothing magic happens at 13 years of age. It is the same for children with intellectual disabilities and children who attend certain special classes in primary school. They can attend primary school but not second level. We simply do not know what occurs at 13 years of age that excludes them from the scheme.