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

I do not know what the Deputy means if she is says resources are not the solution. We are investing €1.68 billion in services for children with special needs and it is an absolutely correct investment. We have expanded that massively. Even in the very difficult years when there was no money available, we continued to expand the number of resource teachers and SNAs. We protected resources and we expanded the school transport service for children with special needs, and we are seeing the results. We are seeing more children identified earlier, completing their programmes at first and second level and progressing to third level.

The system is working. The extra resources, which the Deputy says is just the trotting out of numbers, are real teachers. There are thousands of teachers going into our schools. We now have 13,000 resource teachers and 13,000 SNAs providing support to 49,000 children who are in these categories in one shape or another. This is a huge commitment of resources. It is unfair of the Deputy to suggest there is not a commitment here because there is a massive commitment and it is growing. Even this week, we announced a 7.5% increase in resources specifically for the groups about which the Deputy is expressing concern.

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