Special education in this country is decades behind special education other modern countries. In recent weeks and months, we have witnessed the absolute shambles of the SNA cuts and the lack of appropriate school places for children with additional needs. Thankfully, the Government, in a late-night announcement on Monday, conceded to public pressure, and a promise of €19 million, and no cuts, was made. The public accounts committee has representatives from the Department of education before it at the moment. The Department of public expenditure has just stated that it does not know where the money in question is coming from. Where is it going to come from? Did the Government make the announcement because it just wanted to buy itself out of the difficulty it was in at the time? Yesterday, one of my colleagues in the Labour Party referred to the fact that far more special education places are needed than Government has planned for and that, perhaps, 800 to 1,000 students will be left without appropriate school places. The Opposition party leaders met following yesterday's country-wide protests, and there is a groundswell of public mobilisation against the Government's disastrous handling of this matter. I know that the Government wants to build back trust and do the best it can for every child in this country. How is it going to fix this and how long is that going to take?

Sentiment score: 0.06