Massive population expansion has resulted in increased need for the creation of new schools and school places, special needs places in particular, and greater accessibility to them. In the budget, the Government made provision for additional special needs teachers and special needs assistants. This is very welcome. However, there are serious problems relating to early intervention. Normally, one or two people come to my constituency office daily about this. The situation has become very serious. Any time we contact the Department we are told there is no place available. Where can someone with a child with special needs who cannot find a school go? Every child has a fundamental right to an education. People are really down in the dumps. They do not know where to go for help. Even TDs do not get any help when we contact the Department. What can we do to help these people? They are not one-off cases. People are coming in to me constantly.

That is why we have SENOs to do this job.

One of the fundamental rights in the Constitution, as the Deputy said, is the right to a primary education. It is a good right that is in the Constitution. The National Council for Special Education, NCSE, and the Department have an obligation to fulfil that right in terms of securing a place for the child. We have made significant progress on this in the last two years but wherever there is a need, provision should be made. I empathise with the anxiety many parents feel when their child cannot get a school place. I do not find that acceptable. There needs to be proper planning in advance to make sure that where shortages are identified, that provision is made. As the Ceann Comhairle said, there is a widespread network of SENOs and so on but new classes and places need to be delivered quickly in any area where there is an increase in numbers requiring special education provision. We then need to make sure we can support the schools. There has been fairly significant expansion, to be fair. I am not aware of the specifics of the case but perhaps the Deputy will send them on.

I go back to the same issue, which is huge. The Tánaiste has mentioned the figure of 1,300 several times. There are huge concerns in my constituency about the lack of ASD school places. Parents contact me daily expressing huge concerns about the lack of a school place for their child in September. Some are applying to up to ten schools to see if they can get a place. Many are not getting one. Some intend to leave their five-year-old children in preschool for the year so that they will be in some sort of a school setting. There is a massive problem here and talking about all the teachers who have been appointed is not good enough. There must be some major change.

As I said, people are considering leaving their five-year-olds in preschool, which will also cause blockages. The level of demand for these classes is growing massively. What the Tánaiste talked about is not keeping pace with that. We know there are so many. Some of the SENOs are good but they are significantly overworked. Some of them do not like getting representations from us at all, but the problem is there for parents who are tearing their hair out not knowing where their children will be. It is crazy to keep a child back a year at preschool until they are aged six.

If the Deputy knows of specific cases, I ask him to bring them to the Department's attention. I will speak to the Minister for Education after this session and will raise the fact that a number of Deputies have raised this issue. I know the objective is to provide places for children when it is appropriate for them to progress to primary or secondary level schools.