Joe McHugh (Donegal, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The Taoiseach spoke very clearly on this issue in terms of investment and commitment. Legislation to compel schools to provide classes was introduced on 3 December last year and was enacted on 18 April. There has been considerable consultation with schools on this to ensure what is desired happens. I am not going to go down the road of using the big stick to tell schools what to do. The consultation is working. We will have a positive set of circumstances emerging in Dublin 15.

With regard to home tuition, if parents want to get their sons and daughters into schools, that is our focus.

If we can improve the administration of applications, we will, but a concerted effort is being made to deal with this issue. The Deputy's party leader used the word "inertia" today. There is no inertia on the part of the officials in the Department of Education and Skills. They are prioritising this. There is no inertia on the part of Government either; €1 out of every €5 is going into special education. We will continue to work on that.

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