Mary White (Carlow-Kilkenny, Green Party)

I am pleased to announce that the Education (Amendment) Bill 2010 was published yesterday. During the drafting process the Title of the Bill was changed to the Education (Amendment) Bill 2010 to reflect the inclusion in the Bill of other provisions which require the amendment of existing education legislation.

The Bill is designed to put in place a legislative framework which will facilitate the involvement of vocational education committees in the provision of primary education. These additional powers for VECs are proposed in the context of the development of a new additional model of patronage at primary school level — a community national school.

The Bill provides that subject to the consent of the Minister for Education and Skills, a VEC may establish and maintain a school to provide primary education and may also become patron or joint patron of an existing school. Following the enactment of the Bill, VECs will be able to apply to the Minister for the recognition of a school in the same way as other patrons. The Bill also provides that boards of management of schools under the new patronage model will operate in the same way as boards of management in primary schools generally rather than under the governance model used in post-primary VEC schools.

The Bill also provides an opportunity to deal with a number of other education-related matters for which primary legislation is required, including the amendment of the Education Act 1998 and the Education for Persons with Special Educational Needs Act 2004 to provide clarification on the delivery of speech therapy services to students and to reflect the de facto position where the provision of therapy services is a matter for the HSE for whom voted funds are allocated for this purpose. It provides for the amendment of the Education Act 1998 to provide for the abolition of the educational disadvantage committee. This will implement an element of the Budget 2008 decision on the rationalisation of agencies.

The Department of Education and Skills remains committed to maintaining ongoing consultation with the education partners and other stakeholders on educational disadvantage and the wider social inclusion agenda. The Department will also continue to implement DEIS, the action plan for educational inclusion, which provides for the educational needs of children and young people from disadvantaged communities.

Additional information not given on the floor of the House

It provides for the amendment of the Teaching Council Act 2001 to allow for the employment, in certain exceptional and limited circumstances, of persons who are not registered teachers under that Act — to reflect the reality that it is not always possible to engage a registered teacher and providing for the Minister to regulate for such a situation.

The provisions contained in the Bill will be discussed in more detail during the passage of the legislation through the Houses of the Oireachtas.

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