Mr. Mark O'Connor:

On behalf of Inclusion Ireland, Down Syndrome Ireland, Irish Autism Action and the Special Needs Parents Association, I thank the Chairman of the Joint Committee on Education and Social Protection for inviting us to present today. The four organisations would also like to extend our thanks to the Minister for Education and Skills, Deputy Quinn, for consulting on the proposed legislation on admission to schools. I forwarded members a brief summary of the recommendations contained in our submission to the consultation process. We work directly with people with intellectual disabilities or autism and their families. The impact of the proposed legislation on families and children with disabilities was our primary consideration when writing our submission.

Head 9 allows the National Council for Special Education, NCSE, to direct a school to enrol a child. While this is a welcome principle, there are issues with the finer details. The NCSE will get involved when a parent fails to obtain any school placement for his or her son or daughter. This measure should be changed to mean an appropriate school place. "Any school place" means that a special educational needs organiser, SENO, could consider a place in a special school when a mainstream school placement would be the most appropriate for the child.

Under these proposals, the SENO can direct a school to take a child, but can only recommend that the Minister make resources available. A lack of resources can severely affect families. A school can limit the time a child spends in school by citing health and safety reasons due to insufficient resources. Children have been granted as little as one hour of schooling per day, with a parent needing to wait outside the school.