Frances Fitzgerald (Fine Gael)

Will there be an appeals system? Can there be one? Is the Minister open to listening to parents and teachers about the impacts of these cuts?

I am delighted Senator Healy Eames has tabled this motion. We want to reflect the questions being asked and we want to highlight the pressures on individuals and families and the potential deterioration in the progress of children who have special needs. I do not deny that there are resource problems. However, there are also resource problems if we do not implement the kind of programme we are talking about. If we do not give these children the kind of supports they need, they will end up in residential care, not fulfilling their potential and being a much greater cost to the State than if we continue the kind of progressive regime that has been put in place over recent years and which needs to develop. I look forward to hearing what the Minister has to say.