Ruairí Ó Murchú (Louth, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

That is it. I remember a person who said they worked in support services at one point spoke about a particular scenario. They said they did probably just enough to keep the kid out of care but they were not necessarily sure that was enough because the circumstances were not perfect. I accept that, first and foremost, it is about putting in the early interventions that Dr. Muldoon spoke about. Obviously, we should avoid as much as possible the need for people to go into special care arrangements or foster care. You can never have enough foster carers and I tip my hat to the 99% of foster carers who are out there doing spectacular work. The rules need to be looked at, not only as regards payments and expenses for them but also what they are sometimes forced to do in the interaction with the family. Where that works, it should be maintained, but we have all seen circumstances where it has not been beneficial to children and has created huge logistical issues also. I ask the witnesses to comment on that.

I have dealt with a number of cases where children with disabilities have been expelled. We have all seen that a change of teacher or principal can change the circumstances in schools. How would the witnesses address those particular issues?