I agree with the Deputy that the more of this education and training that is available, the better. We have some catching up to do following the Government's decision in 1998 on an automatic response to special needs. There was not much in place at that time.
In the current year, five institutions are running postgraduate courses in special needs education. These are Saint Patrick's College, the Church of Ireland training college located in Rathmines, Saint Angela's College in Sligo, UCD and Mary Immaculate College. A total of 160 places are provided. A postgraduate professional programme in autism is provided in Saint Patrick's Training College in association with the University of Birmingham. Thus far, 75 teachers have participated in it. Some 25 places are allocated to each course. There is a nationwide postgraduate programme in learning support in six colleges-universities. These include Saint Patrick's College, the Church of Ireland training college, St. Angela's College, Mary Immaculate College and NUI, Galway and Cork. There are 25 places per college, with a total of 150 places overall.
The second element of the strategy is the induction introduction programmes for resource teachers, which are provided at Saint Patrick's College, the Church of Ireland training college, Saint Angela's College and Mary Immaculate College. Two to three induction courses are available for teachers who are working with children with severe and profound learning disabilities. Deputy Enright is concerned with making these courses available on a more mainstream basis within teacher training. I support that and we are in consultation with the colleges. It is an optional module, but there is perhaps a need for it to be more mainstream at this stage.