Laura Harmon (Labour)

I thank the Minister of State. I have a number of questions. Are there particular international best practices we should be looking at? Are there countries we should be looking towards? Earlier, I mentioned assessment of need waiting times. It was above 15,000 during the summer. That is projected to rise to 25,000 by the end of the year. How does this impact forecasting in terms of the school place that are needed? How can there be more co-ordination between the HSE, the NCSE and the Department of education in relation to this?

On the school transport issue, in the transition from primary to secondary, there can often be a big gap or significant distances that students need to travel. Can commitments be made or are targets being looked at for new regional hubs for these schools?