David Stanton (Cork East, Fine Gael)

It was an exciting time in the House in 2003. We had a fantastic debate on the EPSEN Act and for once there was hope that children with disabilities and special needs would be looked after. The then Minister for Education and Science opened his contribution to the debate on the legislation with a quote from John F. Kennedy who said: "Let us think of education as the means of developing our greatest abilities, because in each of us there is a private hope and dream which, fulfilled, can be translated into benefit for everyone and greater strength for our nation." The Minister went on to say these words applied to all of us but, in particular, to children with special needs and disabilities "who are at risk of being marginalised and suffering disadvantage because of their special educational needs". I agreed with him that early intervention and appropriate supports were vital if children with disabilities were to reach their full potential. All children get one chance at education and children with special needs, in particular, deserve that chance.

The Minister, Deputy Noel Dempsey, stated in 2003: "The EPSEN Act raised issues of fundamental importance to our society. It is essential we offer equal educational opportunities to all. Its purpose is to introduce clear and applicable legislation to ensure educational rights for children with disabilities are respected." He said it went beyond the Equal Status Act 2000 and the Education Act 1998. It was a time of great excitement. Many people were interested and there was significant debate and interaction. Despite the promises and commitments provided for in the EPSEN Bill and the previous Education Act and the great hope we had then, little has changed since legislation was enacted in 2004 and it remains largely unimplemented. When it was introduced, the Minister, Deputy Dempsey, said he would provide for a five-year timeframe for its implementation. He said it was "realistic, ambitious but achievable". Unfortunately, he was wrong.

Only a few sections of the Act have been implemented to date. It means sections 3 to 18, inclusive, and sections 38 and 39, which deal with the meat of the legislation, including the right to assessment, provision of services, preparation of individual education plans for children with special needs, appeals of decisions, allocation of resources, appointment of liaison officers, planning for educational needs, implementation of educational policy by the HSE, delegation of functions to principals, provision of mediation services and the duties of the HSE in regard to school age children, remain unimplemented. The initial five-year timeframe for full implementation by 2010 will not be met and a decision was taken in April 2009 to postpone indefinitely the implementation of the Act. The rights and needs of children with special educational needs are being put on hold while the State's resources are pumped into zombie banks. How could anyone say that this is fair?

The only two sections of the Act to have been implemented relate to the National Council for Special Education, NCSE, and the Special Education Appeals Board, SEAB. The board was only established in April 2007. It comprises three staff and it has been allocated €330,000 over the past three years. The board has not been allowed to hear any appeals, yet the Government has pumped almost €330,000 into it. How can the Minister justify this? I have been informed that the board is carrying out research, preparing papers and so on, but its primary function under the legislation is to hear appeals.

SENOs have been given significant responsibilities when they visit schools. They are required by the Minister to adjudicate on the needs of children and whether they should have the support of SNA. No independent body had the power to review their decisions until recently, which is almost unprecedented, and it is unfair on SENOs that they have to play God in all these cases. Will the Minister allow the SEAB to carry out the functions the Act and the House envisaged it would? Parents have no recourse to an appeal, which is unfair.

A few weeks ago NCSE officials appeared before an Oireachtas committee and advised that at the end of February they established a review process whereby SENO decisions from that date could be internally reviewed by a senior SENO if an appeal was lodged within five working days. The timescale is extraordinarily short and the SENOs are acting as judges in their own courts on important matters. Between 20 and 30 appeals were received within two weeks. This clearly shows the significant demand for an appeals process and I hope the SENOs will allow for retrospective reviews of decisions taken. That should also be the case. The NCSE has also decided to establish an independent advisory committee but this will be a case of too little, too late for many children and their parents because I understand this will only be put in place next October.

Will the Minister examine the role and duties of SNAs because they should be clearly defined and updated? For instance, they examine the care needs of children. The criteria have remained unchanged but they are being implemented strictly and this has led to the cutbacks in schools. For example, if an SNA helps a child to turn a page in a book or points out where is the script, that is considered to be education and he or she cannot do that. It is that strict. We need to examine the role of SNAs because they perform a vital role in schools. Everyone would be happy if a fair and independent appeals procedure was in place. That is crucially important because that does not currently exist. In almost every other sector where decisions are taken, it is possible to appeal. For example, decisions on social welfare benefits and planning applications can be appealed but SENO decisions cannot.

All of us who were involved in shaping the EPSEN Act, including the former Minister, Deputy Dempsey, wanted to ensure an appeals process would be in place. It is bad enough that only a few sections of the Act have been implemented. The legislation needs to be implemented in full. I wish the Minister, Deputy Coughlan, well in her new job but I appeal to her to address this. She has a feel for what is going on in this area and I hope she will take this issue by the scruff of the neck and be fair about it, especially for children with real special needs.

When drafted, the EPSEN Act was entitled the Education for Persons with Disabilities Bill and the Title was amended to widen the scope of the legislation and to soften it. As Deputy Hayes said, this issue affects the most vulnerable children. It is wrong and unfair for the parent of a child with special needs to be told that the SNA on whom his or her child depends is being taken away and the parent has no recourse to appeal or cannot talk to anyone about it. It is a case of "good luck and goodbye". That is most unfair. Perhaps the Minister would at least pursue that issue. If we achieve nothing else tonight but that, we will have achieved something good.

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