Ms Caroline Quinn:

We have talked a lot about five-year forward planning, having some kind of a strategy and knowing where we are going. If we know that 5% of the schoolgoing population needs to be supported, then 28,000 children need to be supported. By the end of the decade, trends show that it will probably go to 42,000. If we know that, then we have enough data to plan for five years as to what actions should be happening.

We have seen the education plan, which was published in the past week. We welcome that hugely but if budgetary constraints continue to limit what the system can give to us, the progress will be slow.