Pauline Tully (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I want to raise the issue of the technology that Fiacre or another student used in primary school and how it does not follow them into secondary school. If it is being provided by the Department, it should. Maybe if it was a case where the SENO has been awkward, the Department has not supported it and the school has purchased it themselves, then the school will lay claim to it, which should not happen anyway. I know this because I was the special educational needs, SEN, co-ordinator in the school I taught in and we used to request that the technology the child had used in primary school would come with them to secondary school. Generally, that did happen. It would need updating at times but we had somebody in IT who could look at that and who could update it to suit the needs of the student.

I feel strongly that it should follow a student the whole way, even into employment and from employment to employment. We hear stories again of somebody who, for example, gets a job and who needs assistive technology and the employer has to look for that. Then, if they leave that job after a certain length of time, the same thing happens over again with the next employer. It is ridiculous. It may need adjusting depending on the job but it should follow the person. Maybe Ms Ryan was talking about the situations where the Department has not funded it and it is the school-----