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

I might work backwards from the Chairman's comments. The first thing that the National Council for Special Education will endeavour to do is to find a special class place, a special school place or, indeed, a mainstream place for a child. Ideally, it would be, as I stated earlier, in the community or locality where that child lives, but that is not always possible. As I mentioned, we have this forecasting model now. The fact that the geographical information system is being shared from the Department's building and planning unit to the NCSE means that we should be able to anticipate that demand. That is based on the population demographic but also the percentage of children who will probably need, from a statistical perspective, certain places, whether in a special school or a special class.

The Chairman is quite right that in the cities it is considerably more difficult. Even when we look at it in the context of section 37 and trying to compel schools to open special classes, for example, some of them had legitimate reasons that they could not because they did not have the space.

They were short for space because they are in a densely populated area and particularly where there is a growing demographic as well. It will be a challenge in the future. It is absolutely critical that we get that right now and we plan for the future and build these buildings.

One thing I did not get to mention is the fact that all new schools from last year will automatically provide SEN facilities going forward. That is a huge thing for generations to come because that was never there before. Rather than scrambling to add on infrastructure through the minor works grant or emergency accommodation or whatever it may be, we will not need to do that because the facilities will exist to begin with. That should help alleviate that pressure going forward.

On the exceptional reviews, the Chairman can bring that particular school to my attention since, as he said, it has had four exceptional reviews. I presume the NCSE had an on-site inspection with the school. Perhaps a meeting could be set up with the NCSE to discuss it and to understand why it is not being given an additional SNA if it is the case that it requires one. Again, I mentioned earlier the various criteria where there is a baseline component and the socioeconomic reasons, gender and all of those different factors have to be taken into account. Obviously, the level of need that is required is also taken into account, whether it is complex needs or whatever else is required. Certainly, I can look at that for the Chairman.

On transport, it broader than just special education. There are about 15,500 children with special education needs who use the transport system at a cost of €289 million. The transport scheme is under review. The Department outsources its transport to Bus Éireann and it, in turn, relies on both its own services and private contractors to deliver services. It is good that it is under review. There have been, as the Chairman said, various different complaints anecdotally in relation to children travelling. Again, we endeavour to not have children travel anywhere but, unfortunately, that is not always possible. However, it is something we want to try to alleviate into the future, to try to get children a special school place or special class place in their locality, which would alleviate that need. Certainly, the review will be welcome and there may be there may be outcomes from that we have not thought of or anticipated that may dictate policy into the future.