Brendan Smith (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail)

I welcome the approval of more special classes for the coming school year. I recognise the commitment of the Minister of State, Deputy Michael Moynihan, the Minister, Deputy McEntee, and the National Council for Special Education, NCSE, to build further on the progress made to date. We still need more investment in special education. One particular aspect of the approval of special classes that I wish to see reviewed is class size. The present threshold for pupil enrolment for such classes at primary level is six. This militates against smaller rural schools, where the threshold of six pupils with additional needs may be difficult to achieve. Children with additional needs who need a place in a special class should not have to travel unduly long distances for an appropriate class. Those children also have less chance of attending the same school as their siblings, which adds to the challenges their families face. I am also very conscious that a large percentage of primary schools under the patronage of the smaller churches, the Protestant churches, have small enrolments and should not be disadvantaged in the approval and establishment of special classes.

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