Josepha Madigan (Dublin Rathdown, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

In general, each school has an admissions policy and it has to be in line with the Education Act. I will follow up with the National Council for Special Education on that.

On moving designation in special schools such as St. Mary's to go from mild to autism spectrum disorder, ASD, not all children in ASD primary can move. Some of them move to special schools. The Department is working strategically on transition with the National Council for Special Education, NCSE, as I said, and the building and planning unit.

As the first Minister of State with responsibility for special education, I often say that previous Ministers - the former Minister for Education and Skills, Deputy Richard Bruton, and the former Minister for Education and Skills, Deputy Joe McHugh - had the entire role of the Minister for Education, Deputy Foley, the Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science, Deputy Simon Harris, and me. Now we have a dedicated Minister of State for this area and while there are many pinch points and work that needs to be done, we will make progress.

The fact that the building and planning unit now shares its geographical information system with the NCSE so that it can see building projects which are planned in real time will make a big difference into the future. However, there are pinch points at present and I have to make sure that there is a more targeted approach and that cases such as this, for whatever reason, do not occur. There are over 300 building and planning areas throughout the country and there is a great deal of information there. Particularly in the instance of Emma and Karen, I will certainly look into that for the Deputy and see that we can make sure it is examined. Cork is historically like Dublin. Because of its dense population, it has been challenging, perhaps more than other areas.