Brian Hayes (Dublin South West, Fine Gael)

I apologise, the figure is €26,000. The Minister has not delivered on her promises. Before the last general election, when it came to her attention that 29 schools had been chucked out of the NEPS scheme, she reinstated them, rightly so. Many were in her constituency. I want her to give me advice for the schools in my constituency. I thought Deputy O'Connor would mention it when he saw a reference to Dublin 12 but, unfortunately, it was left out of his speech.

I refer to St. Paul's junior and senior national school in Greenhills which had a service available but then lost it. It was promised a service in September this year and recently received a note from the NEPS — effectively, the Department, not a separate statutory body — stating, "As you know, there have been staff shortages in area 4. Again this year, we unfortunately have to inform you that we do not have the sufficient staff in place", yet the Minister said last night that as there had been substantial recruitment in the three eastern coast areas serving Dublin and surrounding counties, the service would be transferring to other areas. Who is right: the Minister or the nameless official? That is the reality.

There is a lack of responsibility on the part of the Minister and the Department. She is presiding over a bureaucratic nightmare — the NEPS, the National Council for Special Education, SENOs and the HSE. The system is "shambolic".

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