Richard Bruton (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I wish to correct one point. The figures I quoted were from €706 million in 2006 to €1,500 million in 2016, which covers the period when cutbacks were occurring in education. This area was not subject to cutbacks. Resource teaching has been increased by 41%. We now have 12,500 teachers providing resource or learning support, plus 12,500 special needs assistants. There has therefore been a substantial increase in resources for this area.

The announcement I made today will facilitate schools in approaching the needs of those children in a better way. It will direct more of the resources to children with special needs, which is a reform. It will not require them to have expensive diagnostic assessments that are often difficult for parents to obtain. In addition, it will ensure that the school can use that resource in a more creative manner.

I know that Deputy Wallace lives not too far from Marino College, which is just down the road where I have sometimes met him. It is a great example to hear how that college has successfully applied this new pilot model, thus making it a much more inclusive environment within the school under the new model. That will allow us to move to a stage where we can realistically implement the individual education plan on a universal basis in the context of a school that really values special education as a core part of its mandate.

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