Ms Martina Mannion:

We will do that.

On supporting sign language, our class teachers and our special education teachers are the people providing the direct education in our system and our visiting teacher service is also the key support. Our sign language scheme to date has been, prior to the introduction of the new scheme, largely around the home tuition piece. My colleague, Mr. Rogers, went through the numbers of people that the NCSE has been able to secure through the new scheme that we introduced. What we see as a result is the need for greater engagement with our colleagues in the Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth and with our colleagues in the Department of Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science to try to increase the numbers of people with Irish Sign Language in the system. That is something that we are committed to doing because we want to see the scheme that we have introduced being a success in schools. We see the value of it. We see that we will be able to have a structured response to schools embedded in the NCSE. It is part of that whole support structure in the NCSE with visiting teachers, special educational needs organisers, SENOs, team leaders and all of those other support leads. That is why we see the value of it.

We think there is a need to increase it and we will be engaging with the Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth and the Department of Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science on that.