Jim Daly (Cork South West, Fine Gael)
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I welcome the witnesses and apologise for the delay in starting the meeting. Special needs provision in education has been transformed in the past ten years. The perception, which I appreciate is not always correct, is that much more progress has been made at primary level than at second level. As a politician who deals with parents, I have the impression that parents find it much more difficult to access resources at second level. A common challenge they face is that the role of principal in a large school is very different from the role of principal in a small primary school. For this reason, parents feel much more secure approaching the principal of a primary school to have issues addressed. This is not always practical in the case of a large secondary school.

The joint committee is interested in hearing the views of the witnesses on two pinch points, the first of which is the transition from primary to secondary school. Continuity needs to be ensured in this regard and I ask the witnesses to outline their experiences in this regard and make any suggestions they may have for improving policy in this area. The second area is the question as to whether secondary education is lagging behind primary education in special needs provision and, if so, the reasons for this. I would also welcome suggestions on changes in policy that could be made to improve the position.