Cathal Crowe (Clare, Fianna Fail)

One of the metrics is employment and economic affluence. My constituency includes Shannon, which is a significant industrial base. A total of 40% of US companies have a presence in Shannon. This situation is repeated in many constituencies with an industrial base of employment. Every morning, people flock there from four counties to work. The census will tell us that a significant number of people are employed in Shannon and that there is economic affluence. However, people are travelling 40 or 50 miles to work there. There is disadvantage in some of the neighbouring housing estates and the current model does not capture that. I am sure this is replicated around the country.

Special schools are given a primary roll number, which is rather unfair in this day and age. They are now supposed to offer a curriculum extending up to the leaving certificate yet they are resourced like primary schools. They are given a primary roll number and I think their capitation is still more linked to primary than it is to secondary. I know of one school that was asked to roll out woodwork, metalwork and all sorts of technical secondary subjects but is being told that these subjects can be offered on a roll-in roll-out trolley into the classroom whereas a mainstream secondary school would have a dedicated subject-specific class. If we expect special schools to offering this significant range of subjects, we need to resource them better. We would have a better model for staffing, allocations, supports and capitation if we had a specifically carved-out roll number identification system for special schools as opposed to primary and secondary schools.