Marc Ó Cathasaigh (Waterford, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister for her opening statement and for being with us. I welcome many of the improvements that have been made to the summer programme. It is an issue that this committee has spent a great deal of time on.

I want to ask about the planning of special classes in particular. The 900 new special classes are very welcome and much needed. However, in terms of the planning of same, my sense - and I hope I am misguided in this - is that it is a little haphazard. We are placing special classes in schools that are open to providing special classes as opposed to planning a geographical spread. I know the Minister is aware of the context in my own home town of Tramore because she has met me a couple of times on related issues. We only have 12 places in a town whose population is heading towards 12,000 at primary school level. That does not include the hinterland. How are we planning for these special classes in particular? Are we making sure that we are forward-planning in terms of population spread?