I call Deputy Pádraig O'Sullivan.

I wish the Taoiseach the best of luck in the future. I have known him for a few years here and, to be fair, I have always found him to be very forthcoming and reasonable to deal with, so I wish him the best.

I raise the issue of SET allocations. This is something I have raised with the Minister for Education previously. I taught for 15 years and I have a fair idea of how the model worked in the past. I understand how the Department of Education has removed complex needs as an assessment criterion because the HSE and the CDNT teams have only provided it with 5% of the required information. No longer will a student's disability, be it Down's syndrome or a hearing or visual impairment, be taken into consideration for those allocations. The criterion of complex needs has been removed and these SET allocations will only be based on literacy and numeracy performance. I think this is wrong and a mistake. On the basis that only 5% of the information has been provided, I think it is only fair and reasonable to ask that this SET review be deferred.

I discussed this issue with the Minister for Education, Deputy Foley, today, and only in the last week with the Minister of State with responsibility for special education, Deputy Madigan. The explanation they gave me is that this new model is fairer. Two thirds of schools will have the same number of hours or will, in fact, gain hours. It is not the case that complex needs will not be a factor any more at all. The schools data around complex needs will be used, rather than HSE data, which I am told is patchy and inconsistent. It still remains, therefore, a criterion. A review process is under way for any school that wishes to question its allocation of SET. I will be happy to provide the Deputy with a detailed note on this issue, which, for me anyway, is reassuring.