The principal of Kilbrittain National School in west Cork has been informed by the school's special educational needs organiser, SENO, that the National Council for Special Education intends to phase out early intervention classes nationwide, which means that Kilbrittain's early intervention class is to close this year. That is a significant loss to the people of Kilbrittain and the surrounding areas, even though it has sufficient numbers enrolled for next year and has accommodation and staff already in place. It currently has three special education classes attached to the mainstream school, which have been in operation since 2012. Its board of management has spent more than €40,000 to create a new playground and resources for the early intervention classes. Their teacher has recently completed a master's degree in this area. Is the Minister aware of this national plan and what are his thoughts on it?

Has research been carried out on the benefits of the existing early intervention model? I have raised this issue with the Minister for Education and I raised it in the Dáil with the Minister of State with responsibility for disabilities yesterday. I am still awaiting a reply. Will the Minister work with me and for the children of Ireland, who succeed so well thanks to early intervention units, to do what we can to reverse this wrong decision?

I am not aware of the school in question but I am aware of the issue. In my family we have a child with special needs and I have seen him grow up through the various parts of the health and education systems. My broad assessment is that our education system is providing many services that did not exist ten or 20 years ago and that there has been significant progress. The problems really start to occur in the interaction between the health system and the education system. The communication between the two is very poor. Every child and his or her circumstances are different. Some children would benefit best from being educated within specialist units outside the traditional school model; others really benefit where integration is possible. One of the biggest benefits of the integrated model is that other children in the school grow up knowing what it is like to work with and to be educated with children with disabilities. That model is working well. I am sorry if that is a very general answer but it is based on my lived experience.