Ms Helen Walsh:

As a former SENO, I had 79 schools across Dublin 1, 3, 9 and 11 and I knew the children in the schools. I made it my business to know them. I knew the teachers and principals and I knew when there was a new principal to get out to them to make sure I knew them. I appreciate the respect the Senator has shown to the importance of the role of the SENOs, but SENOs have gone, in some cases, from having 50 schools down to having 25. In the days when I had 79 schools, I got around and did my job, and SENOs are doing exactly that.

On parents, last year, on special class places alone, SENOs catered for at least 30,000 interactions with parents. We do not shirk from engaging with parents. The parental questionnaire was also available. We did not insist on it, because we know parents have busy lives, but we welcome parental input. We are open to meeting and listening to parents at any point in time to understand a child better because we appreciate that a child's care needs at home may present differently from how they do in school and we have to try to triangulate that information. It is a core feature of our process.