Micheál Martin (Cork South-Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputy for raising this issue. To clarify, funding is not an issue here. The Deputy spoke about planning and so forth. I am aware of the case highlighted by Sheila Casey Jones in respect of her son Patrick. In Cork alone, we now have about 16 special schools, as well as Cork University Hospital School, educating approximately 1,000 children in the Cork area. Three of those schools, namely, Carrigaline, Rochestown and East Cork community special schools, were only established in the past two to three years.

I made the point earlier that in previous years people were promoting the idea that we should have full mainstream integration and there was less enthusiasm around special schools. This view emanated from UN sources. This was growing currency in the past decade and, in my view, that is wrong. When the last Government came in, we changed direction and said we wanted special schools established.

Ultimately, we need to move towards full campuses where there is a full continuum between mainstream, post-primary, special and integrated between the three. The ETB is the way forward. I initiated the special schools under ETBs with the Minister, Deputy Foley, in recent years. We have brought the ETB system into special education for the first time. Cork ETB is now the patron of Carrigaline Community Special School. That is the future and the State has to be proactive in providing special education places, new schools and new additional places and special classes. There will be 400 special classes established this year alone. Special needs education now accounts for 25% of the overall education budget, as is right and correct. With regard to the school in the north city area, I am awaiting further information on where that issue is for that school on the northside of Cork that could be acquired. This needs to happen quickly for parents like Sheila Casey Jones and their kids.

I take the point that these issues need to be accelerated but there has been much more happening on the special school front in recent years than might have been the case in the past decade. We need to do it much faster, however, because the population is growing. The demand and the numbers coming out of primary will increase; there is no question about that. Post-primary has been much slower than primary in terms of the special needs provision. We have legislation which can compel schools. The approach has always been to try to persuade schools and bring people with you so that the ethos and spirit is correct in facilitating special needs education. In my view, it is a fundamental issue in terms of rights and, therefore, no school should be refusing a child on the basis of the child having an additional special need. That relates more to the special classes issue but we do have to develop more special schools and we are determined to do that.

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