Mr. John Kearney:

I thank the Deputy. I will take this question. There is a context to it in the sense that the previous speaker alluded to in terms of engagement with school leaders and teachers on allocations coming out quickly. The effort of everybody concerned, our Department colleagues and ourselves, is that the issuing of allocations for teachers, special education teachers and special needs allocation would be happening in a coherent fashion in the month of February. That was the strong, loud and clear message coming from school leaders, namely to centralise the resource allocations and do them in a timely fashion.

That is why the window of opportunity to tie in with that has been outlined in the manner it has. I reassure the Deputy that if there are exceptional circumstances such as those she alluded to and if emerging needs arise, there are opportunities for schools, working with local SENOs on the ground, to respond.