Peter Roche (Galway East, Fine Gael)
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The witnesses are most welcome. Like others, I need to inform myself more about what is being advised and the changes being made. Aoife's letter is compelling. Sometimes, when change is advised or recommended, an element of fear comes into it. Regardless of what is being proposed, fundamentally, special children need special educational teaching, coaching and mentoring. It would be a calamity if, in what is being proposed, one child were to be left behind. That is something of which we all must be cognisant. Every parent's nightmare is struggling to find a school place that suits his or her child. Parents want the best in life for their children. If children are forced into something that fundamentally goes against their wishes, it adds enormous pressure to an already complex situation for young parents who want the best for their child. As I said, I need to inform myself more about what is being proposed.

The presentations were quite compelling and graphic in terms of what the witnesses feel will happen as a consequence of the change. If it causes children to be left by the wayside or leaves them in mainstream schools without access to the resources needed, as in the case mentioned where a student did not have the capacity to learn because of the teaching methodologies or because he was not given enough time, that would be a calamity. This is not something that would rest easy with me. I want to know more about it. Whatever is proposed must be fit for purpose. It certainly should not and must not disadvantage any individual or family.