Josepha Madigan (Dublin Rathdown, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Again, it is important to point out that the majority of special classes that are opened in Ireland are opened without having recourse to the section 37A process. The section 37A process has to be utilised and the mechanism has to be triggered in circumstances where the National Council for Special Education and the Department are of the firm view that a school has spare capacity to open a special class. If it transpires that a school is compelled to open a special class, it will be fully resourced and the staff will be given to the school. It is important to point out that there are 435 special classes in the county in which the Deputy lives, 310 at primary level and 125 at post-primary level. There are also 38 special schools. The majority of those special classes would have been opened outside the section 37A process. The Government wants schools to volunteer in the first instance, but where they do not volunteer and where we know they are in a position to open a special class or, indeed, a second special class, we will trigger the section 37A process.

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