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

We have done some initial work in that regard because when we were considering whether to introduce the new model we needed to estimate how much it would cost and how it would impact schools. I do not have specific figures for the Deputy, however. One of the purposes of the pilot is to gather information about how the model would affect schools. I accept the Deputy's point that if a school thinks it would lose resources, it might not opt for the pilot. That is something we have to consider. We have established a steering committee with NCSE, the Education Research Centre, the inspectorate, the National Education Psychological Service and the special education unit to investigate what kind of pilot could be established, how we might decide which schools to accept for inclusion in the pilot, what kind of support might be needed and how we evaluate the pilot.

We are working on all of this.

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