Cathal Crowe (Clare, Fianna Fail)
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That line in the Constitution about cherishing all the children of the nation equally gets overused. It is only every truly embodied in one of the witnesses's schools. Most of us have visited special schools and it is beautiful what goes on in them. There is no judgment and there is inclusion and a lot of happiness for children who may find day-to-day life difficult.

Regarding the roll numbers, the schools are designated as primary schools and yet are now expected to run out a full secondary school programme. This has implications for funding, curriculum, teachers and for designation. Is there now a need to have primary school roll numbers, secondary school roll numbers and special school roll numbers, so that you special schools receive special designation in their own right? We have about eight minutes left so I ask the witnesses to apportion the response times among themselves. We will start with Ms O'Neill.