Ms Helen Walsh:

As regards need, the Deputy is correct in respect of how we define that need. When it comes to special classes, we are heavily dependent on psychological reports defining disability in a particular way. The policy advice has very much recommended that we look at that framework of need within an inclusive context, which is different from that, but we are working with what we have at this point.

The projection into the future is significant. I will row back a little on the earlier part of the Deputy’s question. The need was actually more exaggerated in the expansion of classes at primary level. Post-primary has, in a sense, been catching up in that space. Primary classes exponentially grew in that period. There was also growth at post-primary but we expected that post-primary would meet that need, given that students come to a particular age and transition to post-primary special classes. We are seeing slightly different trends in that space in the context of students not moving from primary special classes but moving into the special school sector. That may relate to the original question of why that is the case and why parents might be bypassing the post-primary space at times.

My apologies, but I ask the Deputy to qualify his question regarding language.