Michael Finucane (Fine Gael)

Yesterday's news was dominated by the report of the task force on obesity but I am sure none of us had to wait for the report to know it was a problem. It is a problem which has been known about for many years. Changes have occurred in Irish society, including an increase in consumption of fast food and changes in schools. One no longer sees children bringing sandwiches to school but when the school doors close at lunchtime, one sees them going down the town and eating chips and all types of fast food. That is the convenience-type culture in which we live. I would deplore the introduction of a fat tax, which has been mentioned from time to time, in an attempt to combat this problem, to act as a disincentive and to put some money in the coffers. If we introduce a fat tax, in many cases we will only penalise those who resort to fast food because it is cheaper.

I have raised the issue of special needs on many occasions and the Leader quite rightly indicated that the Minister was carrying out a review. Last weekend the Minister announced the results of her review and the allocation of 660 extra teachers, of whom 340 will be temporary.

I was present at a public meeting in my constituency last Thursday night attended by 750 people. It was a very emotional meeting at which parents elaborated on the types of situations they faced with their children who were going through the primary school system and who, in many cases, were waiting up to two and a half years for psychological assessments. Even after the assessments, they were not given the results or told whether their children would be entitled to special tuition. Such a situation is a shocking indictment of our education system.

Concerns about small rural schools were also expressed at that meeting. As I have said on many occasions, the devil is in the detail in respect of what the Minister announced last weekend and small rural schools are still concerned that pupils who benefited from special needs education in the past may not benefit from September onwards.

I would like the Minister to come to the House to respond to specific queries on the changes taking place. It is hard for many people to understand this new weighted system. I would encourage such a debate. I assure the Leader that if such a meeting were held in any rural area, parents would relay the situations in which their children find themselves and the types of problems which may impact on them from September onwards.