Joe O'Reilly (Fine Gael)

There is a need to examine the distribution of services because there is evidence to suggest a glaring absence of professional services in many areas. That speech therapists and other professional people in this area are emigrating is a horrendous indictment of the way services are organised.

I am aware of a physiotherapist who is on a panel for a job in this region. The person has been on the waiting list for 18 months, yet the expertise will go abroad. This is bizarre and must be examined.

The idea of increasing hospital charges for people with special needs is horrendous. The charge increased from €66 to €100. I commend the Labour Party on this excellent motion, which I am proud to support. The overall proposition is that 28:1 class ratios will greatly discriminate against those with special needs. The discrimination is heightened by the fact that we have multi-ethnic, multi-lingual classes with people from a variety of backgrounds. The ratio of 28:1 will not apply everywhere — there will be bizarre cases with classes in the 30s. It will be impossible to have special needs people in these classes. There must be a reversal of class size numbers. The proposition of 28:1 will leave 1,000 teachers out of the system next year when one takes the demographic aspect into consideration.

The motion is worthy of support. I call on Government speakers, of whom Senator Corrigan is next, to do the right thing, withdraw the amendment and support the motion, which stands on its merits. We should put young people with special needs at the top of the pyramid in terms of estimation and distribution of resources.