Ms Derval McDonagh:

Could I add one or two points? The inspectorate has done some really interesting work over the past couple of years and published reports to tie in here as well. Its recent report in 2025 on admission policies found that there were concerns about it that almost all the policies had criteria which could exclude children who had more significant support needs. That is a definite barrier as well in terms of access to schools.

The inspectorate has also done some interesting thematic reports on what inclusive education should or could look like. It is interesting the language it is using. That is language that we reflect in Inclusion Ireland as well. Inclusion is an ongoing process. It is about offering the highest quality education for all while respecting diversity. It is about opening our school doors to all children, welcoming all children through the school doors, but also respecting that children are unique and have diversity.

We need to set up our schools to reflect that as well. Some interesting work on those barriers has been published, which that we are reflecting on at the moment.