Ms Aisling McGrory:

Often, parents are unsure. When you have got a young child, you do not where your child is going to go. Some parents might want to try different schools and they have a right to do that too to see how their child manages and gets on. The schools may not have the supports or resources to support that child. Then the parents might have to look for alternatives. That might mean looking for an education psychology assessment or an assessment around getting a diagnosis so they can apply for a special class or school.

This comes back to the deadline coming forward. We do not have the resources nationally to fulfil this deadline for today, 1 October. I understand pre-planning. I really do. I think it is great and if we had numbers, we could pre-plan for the future for special schools, SNAs, therapy teams and all the services our children will need, even going into adulthood as well.

Senator Clonan talked about adults. I used to work with adults with ID and it is severely lacking therapies for adults. We all know it is great to have an early intervention and have that model, bringing the child as far as you can so they can reach their potential. We just do not have the resources to do that at the minute.