Marc Ó Cathasaigh (Waterford, Green Party)
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I thank the Minister of State and her officials for their presentation and for being with the committee today. I will endeavour to be brief where others have failed and see whether I can stick to the two-minute limit. My questions are closely related to those of Deputy Harkin. My first is about vision as distinct from forward planning. If we want to know the steps we need to take we need to know where we are going. It strikes me there is tension, even in the Minister of State's opening statement, between the wish we have to provide a fully inclusive society and providing specialist supports and settings where appropriate for the educational needs of the child. If we are sitting at just under 2,500 special classrooms at present where is it envisaged we need to get to with provision? Instances of autism are fairly predictable in terms of numbers per population. We have a good idea of the population that will attend our schools. Similarly with regard to special school placement, are we where we need to be? Where do we understand we will need to get to?

My next question is on continuing professional development arrangements. I am not sure they are sufficient, notwithstanding the position of the NCSE last week. For example, there is provision for substitute cover for up to 35 days for some diplomas. Stepping out of a special classroom and asking a substitute teacher to step in for seven weeks of the year is suboptimal. We need to plan ahead in terms of the provision of training for teachers. Very often we end up in a situation where teachers stay in special classrooms for a long period of time because they have become the most qualified teachers in the school setting and they find it difficult to step out of it either to access training or further training or to take a break in a mainstream setting.

I have failed miserably to stick to my two minutes despite my stated intention.