I want to ask the Tánaiste about the allocation of special education teaching hours, particularly the removal of complex needs from the criteria for the provision of special education teaching hours, which has been described by Inclusion Ireland as shameful. The Minister spoke about different algorithms and matters of data collection but Inclusion Ireland has come out against it, AsIAm has highlighted serious concerns and the National Principals Forum has said the system simply will not work. My phone has been inundated with calls from schools in Dublin Central about this issue for the past week. Will the Government reconsider this? We have a system in schools where children with complex needs already do not feel like they are getting the hours they deserve. This change is causing significant fear. I do not believe there has been a level of engagement as has been stated previously. Perhaps we need to go back to the drawing board.

I thank the Deputy for his question. As he will be aware, there was an oral parliamentary question on this issue a day or two ago. It is important to stress that there was engagement with education partners on this issue and I mentioned that to the Deputy previously. A total of 70% of schools will have a reduction of only about five hours while 67% will maintain the same allocation or receive an increased allocation. Based on feedback from the review we received from education stakeholders, we believe that this is a much fairer and more equitable scheme across the 4,000 schools. A review mechanism is embedded in the system so if schools are not satisfied with their allocation, they can appeal it.