Brian Hayes (Dublin South West, Fine Gael)

I move:

That Dáil Éireann:

— noting with concern the unacceptable attack on the education of 534 children nationally by the withdrawal of 128 classes for children with mild general learning disabilities;

— acknowledging the pressure on existing infrastructure for special needs education in this country due to a delay in rolling out the Education for Persons with Special Educational Needs Act 2004;

— considering the minimal savings involved in withdrawing the classes and the potential cost implications the decision will ultimately have in terms of greater demands on special needs resources in mainstream schools;

— noting the lack of consultation by the Minister for Education and Science with the National Council for Special Education and all of the education partners prior to making this decision;

calls on the Government to immediately reverse the decision to suppress 128 special classes for children with mild general learning disabilities;

demands that the classes due to be cut continue in their existing form for the coming school year 2009-10; calls on the Minister for Education and Science to initiate a review of the number of classes in this area involving a thorough dialogue with education stakeholders and crucially the parents of those children affected before arriving at a decision to either merge or amalgamate these classes, based on falling numbers and educational best practice; and ensures that the conclusions of this review are made effective from September 2010.

I wish to share time with Deputies Burke, Crawford, Byrne, Carey, McHugh and McCormack.

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