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

This is no consolation to any parent or child seeking a place now but there has been an exponential growth in the number of special classes in the country over the past four years. Over a five year period we now have 19,000 children attending special classes. Five years ago that number was 9,000. There has been constant expansion of the provision of special classes. In the past four years 11 new special schools have opened. This year alone there will be five more. As I said earlier, close to 4,000 special education places will be provided by September this year. I will ask the Minister to talk to the Deputy in terms of specific solutions for specific school areas. Last week he said to me that Dublin was the one area that had not been closed off and that they were working extremely hard to get every child looked after and facilitated.

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