Paul McAuliffe (Dublin North-West, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I raise the issue of special class places and the process for applying for them. For the past six or seven years I have been dealing with parents. Between October and the following June or July many of those parents go through a wasted process of applying to multiple schools. The programme for Government was quite strong in identifying a common application process for special classes. It would make a lot of sense. I have been in contact with the parents of Arlo, Zayn, Thomas, Malcolm, Daniel and Riley. Many parents have come to me. In previous years the list has been far longer. In part this is because nearly a third of the special classes that exist were put in place over the past four years. The last piece in the puzzle is to put in place a common application process so the parents do not have the difficulty of applying for multiple schools. That is the NCSE’s job. It is not an advisory service. It should be the ones finding places and doing so over the period so that, when people leave primary school, there is a place in line at second level.

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