Ms Eileen O'Rourke:

If I could, I will echo a point made by Dr. Redmond a while ago. The census data could be incredibly useful to the special needs sector and I fully support Dr. Redmond's comment about pre-planning and pre-training in good time before children start in school. As I mentioned, the enrolment and familiarisation process is lengthy and quite complex, depending on a child's needs.

I really welcome his comment that JMB schools are very open to opening special classes and I suggest those principals or boards of management make contact with SENOs and the National Council for Special Education straight away.

It is our experience in the National Association of Boards of Management in Special Education, NABMSE, that special needs children in some instances travel very long distances on school buses every day, sharing those buses with children from several other schools, which can lead to a commute sometimes of an hour to an hour and a half each way. That brings us back to the issue of the right of a child to access education in his or her area in order that the child can make friends in his or her area and is not subjected to those very long commutes. In my experience in a school which had autistic spectrum disorder, ASD, classes, we did not have to wait until we had a full enrolment before we opened those classes. We opened the class with two children and very quickly we had two full classes and waiting lists.