Joe Carey (Clare, Fine Gael)

Last year, I visited the school with Deputy Brian Hayes, who is fully aware of the circumstances. I urge the Minister to ensure that any decision taken regarding these classes is made on educational grounds and in the best interests of the children involved.

The National Council for Special Education in Ireland has commissioned a report on special classes. Yet before it can be published, the whole infrastructure is being pulled down. Any sane and logical person can see that this decision certainly is not being made on educational grounds. Placing children who have been in special classes into mainstream classrooms which often have more than 30 pupils adds insult to injury and will further condemn such students to failure.

The Minister has suggested the withdrawal of special needs classes is due to the adoption by his Department of an integration approach to the education of children with special needs. Having asked the National Council for Special Education, whose members are the national experts in special needs education, to compile a report on the issue, he should have waited until it had compiled and published it before taking such a decision. The Minister must clarify the consultation he had with the NCSE prior to making his decision to cut the aforementioned special education classes. What evidence or advice does the Minister for Education and Science use when he makes such a decision? I suspect it is simply another slash and burn decision with little thought of the consequences. It appears to be a decision based on finance, rather than on anything else.

In correspondence to me, the Minister referred to €20 million in additional funding for 2009 to enhance front line services for children such as those referred to in this motion, with €10 million to come from the Department of Education and Science and €10 million from the Department of Health and Children. I would be interested to ascertain the manner in which it is proposed to spend this additional funding. As for St. Senan's national school, were the special needs class to be withdrawn it would cost more to transport the children concerned to and from Ennis. I appeal to the Minister to have a change of heart and to desist from subjecting parents and children with disabilities to such hardship by leaving alone these vital special needs classes.

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