Mr. Dalton Tattan:

I will respond to a couple of additional points that Senator Flynn raised. The special education piece, an area I worked in before I moved into the curriculum space in the Department, is hugely challenging for us in terms of the major explosion, particularly in the area of autism, which is seen internationally and we are certainly seeing it in Ireland too. It really challenges us each year in terms of being able to provide enough places in the right areas in order that people are not obliged to travel long distances, which is also a key aspect.

We deliver a large number of special classes every year. The number of special classes has increased manyfold since 2011. Nearly all of those are autism classes but we still do not meet all the demand that is there. I have met parents, including in recent times, who naturally feel very aggrieved and upset about that. As they have to fight in other areas of their lives, they feel that they also have to fight in order to secure these places for their children. Our planning and building unit works closely with our special education section and with the National Council for Special Education to reduce the number of times that happens and to try and find solutions to it, but the difficulty comes with trying to always get those solutions in place for the beginning of the school year. Sometimes they come through as the school year advances. We acknowledge there is a problem there and we have to continue to redouble our efforts to try and address that.

On the reduced timetables - Dr. Fiorentini wants to say something about this as well - we have done some work on this in recent years. There can be times when a reduced school day can work when there is a clear plan in place, where it is time-limited and where the aim is to get a student who may be experiencing school refusal, school anxiety and things like that back to school over a period.

Where it does not work and is inappropriate is where it is used simply as a way to deal with what a school might see as a problem but actually is an issue the school needs to address to find ways to support that student. Sometimes they can drift on, and that is a problem where effectively a child over time can become disconnected with that school.