Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I thank Deputy Harkin for proposing this motion and giving us an opportunity to speak on it. It is quite a comprehensive motion calling on the Government to do nine things. I am going to zone in on one of them in my limited time, in respect of the Education for Persons with Special Educational Needs Act 2004. I welcome that the Government is not proposing an amendment to the motion but in a sense I wish it was. I wonder if the Minister and I are in two different worlds. I pay tribute to the progress that has been made in reducing the pupil-teacher ratio and so on but honestly I am not sure where we go with this type of dialogue or monologue. While I welcome the progress that has been made, we are inundated with people coming into our offices in respect of that specific issue. They are looking for assessments, trying to get a SENO, trying to get an assessment, not to mention trying to get services. This was all to change. The Act was introduced in 2004 and it was to stop this kind of tomfoolery back and forth. It was bring in the idea of inclusiveness, to stop zoning in on disability and to provide for inclusive education for everyone.

It is 20 years since that Act was introduced. I will come back to the parts of it that we have not even enacted. There has been no review of it. The Minister did not refer to the review of that Act. The Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission has a statutory mandate to keep under review the adequacy and effectiveness of our law and practice. It put in a report in respect of the review that is ongoing since 2021. We are now in 2024. The IHREC has carried out a review of over 80 pages. On page 15 it states: "we are concerned about the significant amount of time that has passed since the legislation was enacted and the announcement of a review; particularly as key parts of the Act have not been fully commenced." A very helpful footnote tells us that sections 3 to 13, 14(1)(b), 14(1)(d) to (f), 15 to 18, 38 and 39 have not been commenced. Page 15 of the EPSEN report also tells us that "The State’s normative practice of non-commencement of disability legislation or parts of disability legislation is concerning." It refers to a need for greater Oireachtas scrutiny. We are doing that by these motions as best we can in our limited time.

The IHREC report goes on and on in respect of the deficits that exist. It refers to the Acts and the parts that have not been implemented, which means people have to go under the 2005 Disability Act. It talks about inappropriateness of language and the misuse of language that is not fit in a modern world. It talks about updating that language and aligning our legislation with our national and international obligations. It talks about the obligation on us to sign the protocol which we have never signed. It refers to the absence of any legal remedies when people find themselves with no services. They have no place to go but to appeal to a TD. Page 46 of the report states that sections 3 to 13 of the 2004 Act provide a statutory entitlement to an education assessment. However, these provisions have never been commenced.

I could pick anything but I have one minute and 20 seconds left. I do not like this type of interaction. I wish we did not have to do this. It is not a reflection on Deputy Harkin, but I wish this motion was on the special educational needs Act that has never been reviewed. We should be discussing when the review will be completed, why it has not happened, and the consequences for children with disabilities and, equally importantly, for children without disabilities. The whole idea of the Act was that everybody would benefit from an inclusive education, in the best sense of the word. That has never happened. Perhaps in her closing speech, which I will be listening to in my office, the Minister will tell me whether the steering committee has met again in respect of that review, why it has taken so long and when the new Act will come into being. Will the Minister learn from the failures up to now and provide for a review in that Act? Like all TDs, I am going home to my constituency office on Friday and top of my list is doing another letter in desperation for somebody who has now managed to get the assessment of needs but there are no services. Equally I can think of somebody on an island who cannot get the services either. That normative, inclusive process has never become a reality.

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