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

Most of the points have been made. It is correct that we should be able to compel a school to make provision for children with special educational needs. As Deputy Thomas Byrne indicated, the Bill seems to be a little convoluted in the way it proposes to do so. It appears to focus on the school, the council, the rather lengthy process involved and the powers of the Minister but does not seem to emphasise the child enough.

Is the process of reporting on the provision of capacity in the area a bit of a get-out clause that allows a school to state it does not have to make provision because somebody else can do it? This argument is used by schools and one of the soft barriers in getting a child into his or her school of choice. The school states, "You would be better off going to the school down the road because it has the capacity to deal with you and we do not". The Minister should address that point to be sure the Bill does not allow for the continuation of soft barriers which discriminate against children with special needs in seeking to gain entry to a particular school.

As I listened to the debate I was struck that it might also be useful to strengthen the Bill a little to give power to the Minister and place an obligation on a school not to take any action that would degrade special education provision in a school. I say this and the Minister may remember because of the very strong case made by Clonkeen College in the fight to retain its playing fields. I have raised this issue on numerous occasions in the House. It was also one of the arguments put to the Minister when they met - that the decision of the Christian Brothers to sell the school's playing fields - essentially to benefit them - would significantly degrade the quality of the unit for children with mild and moderate disabilities that had recently been constructed in the school. The school has testimony from agencies that cater for children with special needs in the area that the move to profit from a school site by flogging off playing fields to developers will impact significantly and badly on the children with special needs in the unit because of the proximity of the unit to the commercial for-profit development on the green space that surrounds it. The agencies have pointed out that for children with special needs having an open green area is extremely beneficial and for it to be near the unit. Now they will be boxed in with a private development because the Minister will not intervene to stop the sale. In the Bill could we have the power to intervene on the basis of protecting facilities and preventing the degradation of special needs provision if anything was being done to degrade it and that would impact adversely on children with special needs? That would be a useful addition for the Minister to make to his amendment.

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