Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)

The Minister for Children and Youth Affairs indicated yesterday that the Children First guidelines will be implemented in the form of legislation quite soon. Given that those guidelines suggest the issue of neglect by omission, particularly in the area of vulnerable disabled children who may miss school and as a result be deprived of intellectual stimulation, that is a form of neglect that must be addressed. When will that legislation be brought forward and will it guarantee, as a matter of right, the special needs and other educational supports required to vindicate the rights of special needs children to a full and proper education as against the current policy of caps and quotas, which in effect mean cuts in special needs educational support?

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