John Moloney (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)

I thank Deputy Finian McGrath for raising this matter and apologise on behalf of the Minister for Education and Science, Deputy Batt O'Keeffe, who could not be present. I am pleased to have an opportunity to clarify the position regarding the proposed centre.

The Deputy may be aware that a decision was taken in 2003 that the centre as originally proposed should not proceed, having regard to the low and declining pupil numbers in the school for the visually impaired and the development costs involved, estimated to be in excess of €30 million. A scaled down version of a national centre was subsequently proposed, to be staffed by a range of professionals, including expert in-house assessment such as speech and language therapy, physiotherapy, occupational therapy, mobility therapy and ophthalmology as well as counselling, pre-school and outreach support services.

The Deputy will also be aware that in the context of inclusive education, the Education for Persons with Special Educational Needs Act 2004 provides that a child, defined as a person who is not more than 18 years, with special educational needs must be educated in an inclusive setting unless such an arrangement is inconsistent with the best interests of the child or with the effective provision of education for those children with whom the child is to be educated.

In the past, children who were blind or had a visual impairment were unable to attend their local schools and had to travel distances to avail of specialised intervention. Today, many of these children attend their local schools with additional special educational supports, where necessary. My Department, through the NCSE, funds additional teaching and special needs assistant support for these pupils where such additional supports are necessary. In addition, funding is provided for specialist equipment and-or assistive technology. My Department also funds the National Braille Production Centre which translates textbooks into Braille, large print and other formats. Current policy and best practice in regard to health service delivery for blind and visually impaired pupils is that they remain and are supported in their local communities.

As the Minister indicated in his response to the Deputy's parliamentary question on 27 January, he met with representatives from St. Joseph's school recently and a further meeting is being arranged to discuss the matter. The Minister advised the delegation that his Department is willing to work with St. Joseph's school in the context of identifying any upgrading work required to the school that is consistent with the use of the premises for educational purposes. Any refurbishments will be considered in a prioritised manner. As in all other areas of expenditure, the timing of these refurbishments is dependent on the resources available to the Government.

The Minister is pleased to inform the Deputy that he confirmed to representatives of the school that his Department will provide a grant of €12,000 to St. Joseph's school towards the costs of its hosting the seventh European conference of the International Council for the Education of People with Visual Impairment next July. This grant was furnished to St. Joseph's last December. On behalf of the Minister, I thank Deputy McGrath for his ongoing interest in this issue.

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