John Curran (Dublin Mid West, Fianna Fail)

While I would normally welcome the opportunity to debate issues in the House, I must admit that it gives me no great pleasure to debate the motion tabled by Deputy Brian Hayes and Fine Gael. I genuinely believe that the motion is devoid of any real substance and it fails to recognise the very significant advances the Government has made in the area of special education during the past seven or eight years.

The motion refers to NEPS. As the previous speaker stated, the latter was established during the lifetime of the previous Administration led by Fianna Fáil. It is easy to sit on the opposite side of the House and nit-pick and cherry-pick about things that may or may not have been delivered.

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