Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire (Cork South Central, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I thank the NCSE and Department for attending. Their submissions are very valuable and I thank them for their time. My first questions are directed to the NCSE and the remainder will be to the Department. In our previous session, we heard that a great deal of concern and frustration was expressed by the parents of children with Down syndrome. This is something I have experienced with constituents. These parents, on the basis of some of the announcements, expected that their children would be entitled to avail of summer provision. However, it has now emerged that children who are in mainstream secondary schools or who are transitioning from early years services to mainstream primary schools will not be able to avail of summer provision.

Is there any good educational reason for this? Is it in line with the 2015 policy position on the expansion of summer provision?

Ms Griffin stated that in light of the size of the units there might be greater capacity to ensure they return. There is a particularly acute shortage of units in large parts of the country, including Dublin, Cork and Kildare. There may well also be a number of other areas. Will Ms Griffin provide a brief update on the work the NCSE is doing with the Department to try to resolve the lack of spaces in units.