Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail)

I thank the Deputy for raising the question. I have noted carefully what he has said and he will find some interesting information in the reply.

The National Braille Production Centre was established in 2000 to provide blind and visually impaired pupils at first and second level with textbooks in Braille and other alternative formats. The National Braille Production Centre produces educational materials in Braille, large print format and text-only for children who are blind or visually impaired. It is an essential service to children and young people who are blind or visually impaired and without it many of them would not be able to access mainstream education or be able to undertake the junior and senior cycle examinations.

It is important that this service is adequately funded to enable it to meet the needs of children who are blind or visually impaired. The Department of Education and Science provides annual funding to the National Braille Production Centre of €867,000.

The National Braille Production Centre has expanded from a workforce of four in 2000 to 26 in 2007. The centre has achieved a huge increase in textbook production in the past seven years, with client numbers increasing dramatically from 17 clients in 2000 to 301 clients in 2007. The centre has advised the Department of Education and Science that it has delivered 95% of all guaranteed book orders this year.

The National Braille Production Centre operates under an agreed timeframe for book orders and deliveries. As high-standard Braille production for education is both time and work intensive — I have noted what the Deputy said about computers and I see a role for them — the timeframe ideally envisages orders to be placed as early as possible in an academic year for the following September. It is accepted practice generally that when a new title is transcribed, the book will be delivered to the student in volumes, unless it is a title that has been previously transcribed, in which case all volumes are available very quickly.

In the case of late orders or other unforeseen circumstances where a delay occurs in the provision of books, officials from the National Braille Production Centre, in conjunction with the parents of the pupil or student and the Department's visiting teacher service for the visually impaired, work together to establish solutions to provide the books in a timely manner. In isolated cases a delay might occur due to very late orders, for example, after May of an academic year for the following September, or difficult texts that require manual Braille input and diagram drawing, for example, Braille mathematics. Another factor in a delay is that during 2007, the National Braille Production Centre has advised that it experienced an unexpected increase in orders and client numbers.

The Department's visiting teacher service for the visually impaired has a significant role to play in the process of ordering books or materials on behalf of a particular pupil or student. In 2006, a protocol dealing solely and exclusively with the provision of educational materials in alternative formats was agreed between the National Braille Production Centre and the Department's visiting teacher service for the visually impaired. The protocol was devised on the initiative of the visiting teacher service for the visually impaired and will be reviewed very shortly on the basis of current experience in its operation. Any amendments to the protocol will be put in place and communicated to all relevant interests, including parents, without delay following the review.

I wish to advise the Deputy that there is also an advisory board for the National Braille Production Centre in place which includes representation from parents and guardians and other interested parties, including the visiting teacher service for the visually impaired.

I thank the Deputy once again for raising this issue. I hope that by discussion and negotiation with the centre the problems he so well described will be resolved because I fully accept that being without books would be a huge impediment for any student.

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