Emer Currie (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I express my deep sorrow and sympathies to the family of Matthew McCallan in Fintona, County Tyrone, who tragically died. As it happens, his grandfather is a cousin of my late father's, which just shows how close all these losses are. It is important we mark this tragic loss in this House and put it on record. There was also the loss of Stella-Lily McCorkindale, aged five, in Belfast, who also died from a strep A infection. These are two tragic losses of young lives in recent days and the families will have to cope with that grief. I hope both the families get answers they are seeking from the PSNI and the hospitals.

The national principals’ forum survey was released a couple of days ago. A total of 921 primary school principals expressed their concern about children who require additional educational needs and indicated they feel wholly unsupported when advocating for pupils with additional educational needs. I spoke earlier in the House about how the lack of therapists will have influenced that survey and has affected the experience of principals, who do not have enough special needs assistants, SNAs, in the classroom or enough special education teachers. When it comes to SNAs, we cannot look at their role just in the context of care needs. It needs to extend beyond that.

Nevertheless, 11% of the principals stated they have declined a request for special classes. We can see how a principal’s experiences in mainstream classes will have affected his or her decision about whether to open a special class, but I would say to them that their experiences are not reflected in the provision of resources. Having spoken to principals who have opened special classes, I know they automatically get the resources, space, classroom and sensory requirements they need. It just shows how important it is to look at the full picture. We absolutely need those principals to go ahead with opening special classes.