John Curran (Dublin Mid West, Fianna Fail)

A number of speakers stated that the good times are gone and we have squandered the money, but we have not. We have invested the money in a significant range of services and infrastructure. Less than a decade ago, special needs education did not exist in this country. Between resource teachers and special needs assistants, there are approximately 17,000 people employed today. When people on the opposite side stand up to speak, they do not acknowledge this fact. There are 8,000 SNAs alone. We have invested the resources we have created in the past decade.

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