Richard Bruton (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

This issue has been raised across the House. We are taking a power in the Education (Admission to Schools) Bill to designate a school to take a child with special educational needs but we are not taking a power, if one likes, to require a school to provide an ASD unit. At least, we are not doing that legislatively. The reason we have not done it legislatively to date is that we have not had a difficulty in getting schools to take it up. As I stated, we have more than doubled the number of schools with ASD classes and we invest to match a school's willingness to provide such a unit. To date we have not experienced the need for a compulsion in that area. I know that many Deputies feel there should be and we will listen to those arguments. However, I think there is also a feeling that this should be done in partnership and that compelling a school to do something like this is not the ideal way to go. As the Education (Admission to Schools) Bill progresses, we will need to provide evidence to Deputies to reassure them on this point. I know many Deputies, including Deputy Thomas Byrne, are concerned about the issue.

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