Olwyn Enright (Laois-Offaly, Fine Gael)

I support Deputy O'Sullivan's amendment. She has made her argument well. She is correct to say that everything hinges on the issue of resources. People have expressed a good deal of faith in this legislation since the Minister's amendments became known, but they still have genuine concerns about resources. They understand how the legislation that has been published is supposed to work in theory, but they are not sure that the necessary resources will be provided in practice.

People have a genuine concern that we are publishing legislation. They see how it is supposed to work in theory, but they are not sure that the necessary resources will be provided in practice. Section 13 deals more specifically with financing of this area, but section 4, where we are talking about what the child will need, providing the statement of resources required, is where the words should be inserted, so that it is clear that people will get exactly what they need. I do not mean resources merely in terms of hours, but physical resources too, which might be needed in the school, including lap-top computers and so on. The school must also be aware of what it has to juggle with if it has different children requiring resources, so the statement must be very clear in that regard.

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