Thomas Byrne (Meath East, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I will certainly bring those concerns again to the Minister but I reiterate that enabling students with additional needs to receive the appropriate education is an absolute priority of the Government. Every child must have his or her appropriate school place. This year, €2.7 billion is being spent on special education, which is a massive increase in recent years. This will allow this year for the opening of up to 400 new special classes in mainstream schools and 300 additional special school places including in County Kildare and indeed in my own county on the Kildare border as well. I am confident this issue will be resolved. The officials in our Department will work hard to make sure it is resolved. The parents can take that message very seriously indeed.

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