Pádraig O'Sullivan (Cork North Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I will ask one supplementary question and comment on what Ms Walsh just said. Are we ever going to move to a model where CPD is not mandatory? It could be done as part of the Croke Park hours or whatever, but there would be no compulsion to do it whether a person is teaching in an ASD class or not. Should we not move towards a model where if an Irish and history teacher is teaching in a special needs class, surely, he or she should be doing some modules that are specific to that as part of his or her teacher training? Is the NCSE looking at that? Does it have a role in that? Is it feeding that into colleges? That is the way to do it. If someone is doing nursing, ultimately, he or she will specialise at some stage. Is there a case for it in the teaching profession?

The supplementary question I want to ask relates to Carrigaline.

NCSE is probably aware of the situation where the new ETB special school opened. It is not covered by a children's disability network team, CDNT. The ETB is not a service provider. About 50 children are there, with no access to therapies. That has continued for about a year. I am not blaming anybody for it, but how have we arrived at this point? To be fair to the Minister of State, Deputy Rabbitte, she is negotiating with various stakeholders there. I understand an agreement of some description was reached yesterday with the HSE. However, it is unconscionable that we would arrive at that kind of model where basically it is viewed as "You're not our problem". What is the role of the NCSE in this? Can it help?