Ms Derval McDonagh:

I will take the Senator's point about what she is hearing from schools regarding the lack of resources and the very real concerns that any reduction could lead to an impact on disabled and autistic children. Again, this goes back the point about what we are saying. We are saying that we are investing a great deal more in education at the moment, and that is true. We are investing more and there are more special education teachers, but the point that we are starting from quite a low base needs to be re-emphasised.

It must also be stressed that this investment needs to increase quite dramatically over the next number of years. Any indication that hours could be reduced, even by five hours a week, which is what the Department is telling us, means some of those 34% of schools will only experience-----