Darren O'Rourke (Meath East, Sinn Fein)

I thank the Minister of State for his response. I hope we can take this as a point for raising this case and for follow-through. I know there is a plan to submit for a focused review. The timeline is very short in relation to that. I hope when it goes in that it will be considered favourably. Regarding the interim review, which I mentioned earlier, it is deeply concerning. As I said, this school made a really comprehensive submission in relation to it and only received a written response a couple of days ago. Nobody called out to the school. There was no visit - not to a classroom, to a child or to a staff member. That is totally unacceptable.

As a constituency TD and as my party's education and youth spokesperson, I say there is widespread frustration about how the NCSE and the SENOs go about their business in conducting these assessments and communicating with schools and about the level of responsiveness. I raised this before when we talked about the EPSEN Act review and this is another case in point.

I know many of the people involved and can say with hand on heart they are dedicated professionals and want to provide the best for these kids. That is what we all want for the children in our education system but people have their hands tied behind their back because of this bureaucracy. I acknowledge there are increasing numbers of SNAs, but there are nowhere the number we need. There is a challenge in that but in this case it is inexcusable that additional resources have not been made available. I ask that whatever additional review goes in be considered favourably.

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