Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire (Cork South Central, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

The Minister of State was absolutely right in acknowledging that there was a lack of forward planning. It appears to me that we have not moved beyond that and that we are still in that situation. She is also right that most schools open classes of their own volition. It has been my experience that any school that has opened such a class has never regretted it. However, that is not the point. The point is that for those schools that refuse, we are allowing this to creep into the eleventh hour. That is the problem. The experience of parents is that every September they get the message from the NCSE and the Department that there are adequate places in their locality, but it turns out by the following April that this is not the case.

I urge the Minister and the Minister of State to convene the NCSE this coming school year, ensure a decision is made early in the year to analyse where the shortfall is for September 2023 and begin the section 37 process then.

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