Aisling Dolan (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister of State. This is fantastic legislation. The Minister of State has shown the whole time she has had this portfolio the changes she has sought to make. We talk about resources within our schools and special schools. We are looking at bringing children back into the mainstream. That has been a real policy over recent years. Specifically, with this Bill, the Minister of State is looking at working with schools, which is what the Department is doing, to ensure there is capacity there for children, particularly in regional and rural areas. We have heard of parents travelling nearly 50 miles, 100 mile return journeys, to try to access some of these schools. The Minister of State has done an awful lot of work in fighting for budgets, including for SNAs within the Department of Education, and we have seen the increase in that regard. Those resources are crucial for mainstream schools to be able to offer these special classes and to ensure they have the supports in place to do so.

As for this section, it is crucial, as Senator Warfield said, that schools engage at an early stage if there are capacity challenges. What this Bill says is that we are working with our schools. The Government has had a very clear strategy of mainstreaming of children with special needs. That will happen in schools in Ireland, and we will work with schools to achieve that. The Bill puts a strong emphasis on what the Government wants to see achieved here.