Michael Moynihan (Cork North-West, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

There is funding available in the current year for additional classes. In his earlier contribution Deputy Quaide mentioned Waterford and Dungarvan, and it would be remiss of me not to refer to that. We have had a number of meetings in relation to the issues there as well. Most recently we met with the Minister of State, Deputy Butler, and with officials to try and make sure there is a focus on that and so that we understand the challenges there. I understand the challenges first hand in relation to these issues.

The Government is committed to ensure there are places available. Our duty is to make sure those places are available in a timely fashion. I will be working with the NCSE, and with the Department of Education officials to make sure they are available in a timely fashion. There are more SENOs this year than ever. They are in place and on the ground since 1 September. As I said at the outset, they are working through 1,000 school visits. We have to bring that together over the next number of weeks because we have to give certainty to parents. Parents are stressed and are extremely concerned, not just about the transition but also about where they are going to have places.

It is totally and absolutely wrong that children are travelling long distances to school. These are children with additional needs and they are expected to travel for over an hour in some instances. That practice cannot continue. We must make sure that we have school places in the communities at primary and secondary levels. We must ensure that all children, especially those with additional needs, are accommodated within their communities insofar as possible. I cannot stress enough that this has to be communicated to parents, families and children in a timely fashion because heretofore it was not. We had some instances where the children did not know where they were going when they finished primary school. They did not know in the last week in June where they would be in the first week of September. That practice is no longer acceptable. We will work might and main to ensure we iron out those difficulties.

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