Ceisteanna ar Pholasaí nó ar Reachtaíocht - Questions on Policy or Legislation
Dail Éireann — 2026-10-01
============================================================

Jen Cummins (SD), Dublin South-Central

Last week, I asked the Tánaiste about special education in this country in advance of Virgin Media's documentary airing on Monday. On Tuesday, Deputy Cian O'Callaghan asked the Taoiseach about the documentary and the stark things outlined within it. The Taoiseach said that he had not seen it and that it would only give one side of the story. Those words really hurt people. It is one side of the story where we are seeing children being educated in cupboards and undertaking regulation in bathrooms. That is one side of the story. One of the most heart-breaking moments was when we saw that one side of the story where a mother said, "Why is it always the children who have the least time who have to wait the longest?" When the Tánaiste answers me, I ask him to please not tell me how much money the Government has spent on special education. I know all of those numbers very well. What is most important is not how much you have but what you spend it on and how effective it is. I also want to know whether the Government can do an audit of all special schools and special classes to ensure they are fully resourced and staffed and have everything they need to support the children they educate.

---

Source: Houses of the Oireachtas. Licensed under CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). The Official Report is revised after first publication; the fetch timestamp below identifies the version quoted.

Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2026-10-01/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-10-05T01:01:00+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-10-01