Mr. Mark O'Connor:

I will address some of the points. The Deputy is right in that if there is one thing we love to do in the Irish education system, it is segregating and boxing pupils into very specific areas. I will deal specifically with the disability front. An unintended consequence of segregation is based on the fact that special schools, by their nature, are not on every street corner or in every locality. Children are bussed out of their locations and are not going to school with their peers. They miss out on all the social activity that happens as a consequence of meeting people in school, including the games of football and birthday parties, even when they are going to the same schools. We heard media stories over the weekend in which parents reported that their children were not invited to certain birthday parties, for example. Another consequence of segregation is that special schools are seen as primary schools. We have spoken about RSE and tackling some of the associated issues. It is at primary school level that 17- and 18-year-olds in special schools are receiving that education. It is wholly age-inappropriate.

To return to a point I was making, in the research carried out north of the Border it was found that children with a disability cited their disability and their being seen as other as the main reasons for being bullied.