Fergal Browne (Fine Gael)

On the point raised about special needs assistants, my attention was drawn during the week to a case concerning a boys' school and a girls' school situated side by side. Members of the same families attend the two schools. However, the boys school was classified as disadvantaged and it is getting a special needs assistant for every 80 pupils, while the girls school is getting one for every 200 because it is not deemed to be disadvantaged. This is crazy and the issue should be reconsidered.

Bearing in mind the Equal Status Act, we will be debating the Equality Bill today and we must ask ourselves if it is fair that girls are being discriminated against in terms of special needs——