Charlie McConalogue (Donegal North East, Fianna Fail)
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I welcome Mr. Stack and his colleagues from the executive of the NCSE. I thank him for his ongoing commitment to his role and his work, along with the executive, over the past three years. I will support them, and I wish them well for the next three years.

There are some issues on which I would like Mr. Stack to comment and give his perspective. He mentioned the NCSE's plans over the coming period to assess the current position with regard to preschool special education provision. He also touched on further education and supports after secondary school. Will Mr. Stack comment further on the gaps in both of those systems? What challenges need to be addressed at preschool level? Could he comment on the challenges of post-secondary school education?

I understand that the NCSE does not handle this role directly in the same manner it does at secondary school level. This means it is a much more complicated, cumbersome and far less person-friendly experience for those with special needs once they leave secondary school. There is a real gap in our system. We have achieved much progress over recent years in mainstreaming students alongside their peers at primary level through to secondary school, but there is a gap once they leave secondary school in terms of the type of services and supports available to them in the form of a resource teaching facility and personal and special needs assistance.

Will Mr. Stack discuss the pilot exercise on the proposals of the working group as to how the allocation of resources to schools will be changed? I know the pilot is taking place in 47 schools but there is a great deal of concern in the educational community regarding how the pilot model will work and how it will impact on various schools. There is genuine concern among many schools that they may lose resources and concern about the level of commitment on the part of Government to increase resources. I know they were decreased significantly by about 15% four years ago. People genuinely believe that the model is a precursor to further reductions or certainly no increase to match increased demand in those services. I know the pilot is being carried out without impacting on the allocations to the schools that are taking part in it. Considering that one of the main concerns schools have is how it will impact on the level of allocation they will get, will Mr. Stack comment on how the pilot will be able to allay those concerns because it is not addressing them in its current format?

In respect of the role of the National Educational Psychological Service, NEPS, and its educational psychologists working with the NCSE in making diagnoses, will Mr. Stack comment on the current situation regarding the limit on the number of NEPS assessments schools have and how this is impacting on the council's ability to give students the resources they require? Is there a need for additional supports in NEPS to properly support schools in assessing students and their needs and supporting the work carried out by the NCSE? I believe there is a need.