Ruairi Quinn (Dublin South East, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputy for his comments. He is right to recognise the fact that a lot of progress was made in this area by previous Governments, of which his party was the dominant partner.

It is 20 years since we had the first allocation model for special needs education and how it can be broken down. The world has learned a lot more, not just in Ireland but across the globe, particularly in the developed countries, where special education is being mainstreamed.

On cutbacks, I have, unfortunately, had the responsibility to reduce public expenditure in the Department of Education and Skills on foot of the economic crisis with which we have been confronted and the legacy of the Deputy's party. The Deputy has acknowledged that we have ring-fenced the €1.3 billion in resources for young people with special education needs and we have frozen the number of people in terms of the 10,575 special needs assistants and resource teachers to whom he referred. That does not necessarily mean things stay the same or as they always were because if there is a variation in the number of people looking for, and qualifying for, support that can increase or reduce the number of supports in a particular school or classroom.

I am reasonably confident what I have received from the NCSE will be an improvement on what we have in terms of the allocation of those resources. The only commitment I can give the Deputy and the wider community who will be listening to this debate or looking at its reported proceedings is that I intend and will endeavour to keep the same amount of money in the forthcoming budget for this sector. If that requires a different allocation of resources on foot of the recommendations of the NCSE, that would follow, but I will publish my response to the 28 recommendations following consultation. As I said in the formal reply: "I am also very conscious that in making any changes to our supports we need to protect the gains we have made. Consultation will therefore be a key aspect in the implementation of any of these recommendations."

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