Mr. Páiric Clerkin:

I come back to the point around ensuring the proper infrastructure is in place to ensure everyone within the system can thrive. Central to that are the needs of the child, looking at the child and ensuring those supports are in place. Several members have pointed to the lack of some of those supports. Our system is getting ever-more complex but it is still structured very similarly to the 1960s and 1970s model. We are coming to a tipping point on how we will support that system and ensure we can really stand over the concept of a truly inclusive system. That means that every child will be able to attend school with their siblings, if at all possible. We are not achieving that at the moment because we are firefighting in so many aspects. We have to look at the infrastructure and ensure it is fit for purpose into the future.

If anyone visits a special school, they will see the work that is undertaken by that team. It may be a small number of teachers, it might be six to ten, but there could be a team of 80. It is only in the last year or so that we have actually provided them with the support of an administrative deputy principal. That is to be commended but we need to do more.