Eamon Gilmore (Dún Laoghaire, Labour)

Do I understand correctly from what the Taoiseach stated that the revenues for this year will be €34 billion or €35 billion, as opposed to the €37 billion, of which he previously spoke? He says the Government has taken decisions and that all of this will be addressed by the end of the month. By what means does the Government intend to address the issue by the end of the month? Is it the Taoiseach's intention to have the Minister for Finance bring a new Budget Statement before the House before the end of the month? Will he clarify what he means by the end of the month?

Although, understandably, we have concentrated on the macro-economic big picture and spent a good deal of time addressing it for several weeks, we sometimes forget the human side of what is occurring. There is one area, in particular, I wish the Taoiseach to address, namely, the decision announced by the Department of Education and Science on 11 February to the effect that it would be withdrawing funding from special needs classes which did not meet a certain pupil-teacher ratio. There are 118 classes and 528 pupils affected by this decision. The amount involved is €7 million. Given the scale of the figures we are discussing, it is relatively small and eminently fixable. The Minister for Education and Science stated this is being done, not for financial reasons, but for educational reasons. In a letter to the newspapers recently he stated the children concerned would be better off in mainstream rather than special classes. There is an article in today's edition of The Irish Times which lists the case studies of several of the children concerned and the comments made by their parents.

Róisín Woods points out that her seven-year old daughter, Jessica, has just now managed to pronounce her own name and her mother wonders what it would be like if she were in mainstream education, coping in a class where she would be teased about the fact she could not pronounce her name. Cathy Shevlin says that at ten years of age her son, Niall, with the mentality of a four-year old, is expected to go into fourth class in a different school and to sit with 30-plus pupils. The newspapers have reported on the case of Christine Devine and her six-year old son, Aaron. Christine Devine says that the teacher would have to take her son to the toilet every half hour. Damien Barry says that mainstream school was never really an option for his daughter, Alana, as she has too many problems. The McBride family have said their daughter, Chloe, is much happier now and doing really well.

These are parents who are extremely worried about their children. They want their children to stay in the special needs classes in which they have been accommodated to date and where they are doing well and making progress. I am sure that, given all the issues that need to be addressed, the €7 million required to deal with this matter can be found by savings of one kind or another. It would not take a great deal of ingenuity nor would it be difficult to put that together. I appreciate that solving the overall problem of the country's finances is a huge task but there are things that can be fixed. There are little things like this that do not have to happen, little things that make a lot of difference to parents and their children as in this case.

I ask the Taoiseach whether this decision can be reversed. The House will be discussing the Exchequer returns and what has to be done about them but there has to be a sense communicated to people that the little things can be fixed. This can be fixed and it does not have to go ahead. These children can and should remain in the special needs classes in which they are doing well. This cut can be reversed and I ask the Taoiseach to give hope to those parents and to their children that the compassionate view will be taken and that the effort will be made to find the savings. We could find €7 billion for investment in the banks and we are talking here about a figure of €7 million, one thousandth of that cost. I am sure this can be done.

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