Mr. Brian O'Donnell:

I will respond to the Senator's first question about education. As I outlined in my presentation, our federation very much welcomes the implementation of the new policy for the allocation of special needs teaching resources in mainstream school settings, which will take effect in the autumn of this year. That policy moves away from the need for parents to seek out assessments in order to qualify for educational resources. Instead, the school is profiled in terms of the teaching resources it requires, which is welcome. In respect of secondary schools, the federation welcomes the increase in the number of special needs assistants that have been put in place over past years.

That is a welcome development. However, it is still far from perfect. My colleague, Mr. Christy Lynch, is chief executive of KARE, which is a patron of schools. Mr. Lynch will deal with the practical difficulties KARE encounters as a patron of schools.