Michael Moynihan (Cork North-West, Fianna Fail)

For the first time ever really, a large number of schools have come to us which are willing to take on a special class. I compliment school authorities. Many have embraced it and have seen the positives for the entire school community - their neighbouring school may have taken on a special class. The number of children that will need additional places this year was presented to the NCSE on 1 February.

We are trying to match that insofar as is possible. I do not agree with travelling the 18 miles or the half an hour or longer. I understand that the half-hour journey for a child who has additional needs can be quite challenging. We have a number of new special classes this year in County Clare. There are seven additional classes coming in in County Clare. We are looking at post-primary education, which will be a huge challenge coming downstream for us in five or six years' time. Every post-primary school will have to have special classes. The planning and building unit is working very closely on everybody going in for any building because it is important that we have the special classes in the communities. It is only by having them normalised within every community that we can genuinely say that we have an inclusive education system.