Martin Daly (Roscommon-Galway, Fianna Fail)

I am happy to continue with Deputy Ó Murchú’s conversation because it is really important. I visited a special school in Castlerea the other day. It is a tremendous school with an extension and it looks after 85 children with special needs. The problem is the school catchment area. Reference was made to all the CDNT teams that have to be dealt with. The therapists in the school may be dealing with 12 teams. There are children in the school being bussed from south Sligo and east Mayo as far down as St. Hilda’s in Athlone. It depends on numbers and the school is in a situation in which it cannot meet the demand. It needs 16 additional places next year but does not have the physical space for them. We are hoping to address that. Local representatives, including a party colleague of Deputy Ó Murchú, are working on this with me.

It is a problem that we may have too few of these schools, too far apart from each other, meaning we have children travelling out of their areas. The cost of transport and the disruption to parents’ and families’ lives are an issue. I am not taking a position on it but am asking for Dr. Tamming’s thoughts on it.

At our last meeting, we had allied health professionals and social worker groups in. I was struck by the points on suspensions and expulsions from mainstream schools that have facilities for children with additional and special needs. Do the witnesses have thoughts on that? It just compounds the problem for the parents, who are already dealing with enormous burdens of care. Has any work or research been done on solutions to deal with this type of situation? While I realise it is difficult and complex, the witnesses might have some thoughts on it.