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

It provides that children with special needs must be accepted and it gives the National Council for Special Education the power to require that. That is the admissions policy that is before the House. We have indicated that there are amendments to be made, having been agreed in principle on Committee Stage. They have to be drafted and go through the Office of the Attorney General. That is what is now happening. The issue of divestment and transfer of patronage is a separate process. As we have indicated, the agreement of all parties is required to secure that. Under a new system that we are introducing, education and training boards will conduct local surveys of preschool parents to establish whether there is a desire for an alternative model of patronage. Where there is such a desire, we will sit down with the existing patrons to seek to work out a live transfer to a new patron.

See this speech in context