Jan O'Sullivan (Limerick City, Labour) | Oireachtas source

There are 130 new special classes coming on stream and the extra SNAs and resource teachers as I have indicated. The NCSE is consulting on a new model of allocation to ensure that the resources are in the school when the child arrives rather than the parents having to in some cases pay for a diagnosis and wait for the supports to be put in place. We want to ensure that the child is at the centre of this, particularly the special needs child, and that we provide resources, whether in the mainstream class or a special class attached to a mainstream school or, in a small number of cases, in special schools. We have allocated extra resources for this and we will look to provide a more child-centred model.

See this speech in context