Catherine Murphy (Kildare North, Independent)

Some of the court cases probably follow on from the cases where people sought education and, having been granted it, felt the support services were insufficient. Does the Minister of State agree that planning for the provision of the support services involves a far more efficient way of spending funds than meeting the costs of litigation to deny those services? Given the figures the Minister of State has just mentioned, one can only conclude that the latter is the approach.

I received a similar reply from the Department of Education and Science to the effect that, for two years, there was in the region of €10 million in respect of one side of the court action — there may well be an overlap in the figures, which essentially implies the State was denying services to children.

Children who received primary education on foot of legal action are now presenting for second level education but the support services are not in place. Bearing in mind that there is a relationship between the Department and the Health Service Executive in terms of the provision of the required support services, it seems nobody is counting the children in question. This is a denial of their entitlement to an appropriate education.

Is the Minister satisfied that the second level children are being captured properly? It seems they are only captured properly when there is a court action. This morning I communicated with a parent whose child requires speech therapy. The family lives in Kildare where the HSE does not have services specific to children with the child's diagnosis. If the family moved to west Dublin the child would receive the required services but it does not receive them because the family is living in Kildare.

See this speech in context