Last week, the Taoiseach promised a new era for special education and appointed a Minister of State to deliver progress. This week, in Glanmire in Cork city, we see the National Council for Special Education break a promise to give a second special education class to the Brooklodge National School for this September. In Ballincollig, parents are being forced to take children with autism out of their schools and send them by taxi to schools half an hour or more away for lack of special classes in their community. At Scoil Eoin, it is over three years since the NCSE sanctioned three special autism classes but the Minister for Education is refusing to fund the “knock and build” that would best deliver them. Meanwhile, 21 boys with autism have no special class and many of them struggle in large mainstream classes. These are just two of the many examples I could cite from Cork city. The Government promised progress but when are these schools, and society more widely, going to see it?

It has now transpired in the Brooklodge case that no application was made to the Department by the school in respect of a new special class. The NCSE has sanctioned an ASD class but my understanding is that an application was never made or had not been made up to the weekend, although an application is going in urgently now. I do not think it is fair to the Minister to say that the Minister has refused that. I spoke to the Minister about this when it emerged and Deputy Pádraig O'Sullivan and the Minister of State, Deputy Colm Burke, were in touch with me. That is the situation in respect of Brooklodge.

What of Ballincollig?

No application was made. We need to all agree on the facts of any given case. We will do everything we can to help. Broadly speaking, provision has been made for about 2,700 new special education places.

We are out of time.

What of Ballincollig?

I will follow up on that.