Cathal Crowe (Clare, Fianna Fail)

In the second round members have 90 seconds and there will be three minutes for Deputy Daly at the end of that. I am up first with 90 seconds. I was teacher for many years. When I was in Mary Immaculate College, we had lectures on the philosophy and history of education every week. I could rattle off a whole range of quotes about what Maria Montessori and Socrates had to say about education. However, when I was in the classroom a diagnosis would be put in front of me and I would have to Google what dyscalculia meant. That was 16 or 17 years ago. A lot of my teacher friends were messaging each other on WhatsApp about what the different diagnoses were. It is important that the Department and the NCSE have eyes on the quality of the instruction and information being given at the educational colleges. Additionally, there are some very fine SENOs but there are also SENOs who do not understand special education to the extent that they should. I would not go down the street to any of the acute hospitals in Dublin and override a recommendation of a neurosurgeon because I have no expertise in that area. However, it frequently happens that a SENO comes in and rubbishes a report because he or she does not agree it or claims he or she does not have the resources to implement its recommendations. At the teaching end, and I am not casting aspirations on everyone, the quality of instruction in colleges and of what SENOs have needs to be improved.