Jan O'Sullivan (Limerick East, Labour)

I accept the point about the words "child" and "children". However, I am still concerned at parents not always having their requests acceded to by principals. Section 11(6), to which the Minister referred, makes provision for recourse to the appeals board, but that is a cumbersome procedure. I would like to see parents having a greater right because, essentially, we are talking about cases where they feel their children are not progressing as well as they should under the plan. Parents feel strongly in these situations and it would be unlikely they would call for a review unless they had very good reasons for so doing.

Parents deal with their children on a daily basis, help them with homework and so on. The requests would be genuine in almost all cases. I would like to see a stronger right for parents to have reviews carried out. Principals are busy people and may not be in close contact with children if they are in a large school whereas the parent has close contact. I believe my amendment to delete the word "request" and substitute the word "require" should be further considered by the Minister.

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