Mr. Martin McLoughlin:

The Deputy's example is a very good one because, without getting into individual details, from the data analysis and the forward planning work we do with the NCSE, there is something happening the children at that transition point from the primary special class, so that for whatever reason a significant cohort are going the special school route rather than the post-primary special class route. That raises two questions for us as a Department and for the NCSE. In the short term, we absolutely need more special school places and we are determined to do that and are planning around that. Deputy Feighan asked earlier around the 2,700 additional special education placements for next year. Some 300 of those are in the special school sector, so we are planning with the NCSE to provide an additional 300 special school places next September. We had a fairly intensive day with the NCSE recently around where those places are needed around the country. While the focus in the last few years has maybe been on opening new special schools in Dublin and Cork, we realise now we need to broaden that out to larger urban areas like Limerick, Galway, the commuter belt and the areas surrounding the cities. We need to look at expanding provision. While our first preference is to expand provision in existing special schools, if that is not just viable in terms of accommodation or bringing schools along on that journey, we will absolutely look at opening additional special schools over the next few years where they are needed. In the short term, I advise that the Deputy ensure the case has been brought to the attention of the NCSE at local level. I think it has been. That will then feed into our planning and work with the council on providing the 300 additional places and making sure they are in the right areas, such as Limerick, Galway and the commuter belt.