Olwyn Enright (Laois-Offaly, Fine Gael)
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Question 92: To ask the Minister for Education and Science if she is satisfied with the standard of provision of education for deaf children; the steps she is taking to improve educational provision to deaf children; when she expects to be presented with a full copy of the research being undertaken by the Centre for Deaf Studies regarding the now disbanded advisory committee on the education of the deaf; if she will publish this research in full; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [5209/07]

Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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I am satisfied that the Department provides an extensive range of supports for the education of deaf and hearing impaired children. This includes three special schools and ten special classes attached to mainstream schools with a pupil-teacher ratio for these classes of 7:1.

In line with the Department's policy that children with special educational needs access appropriate education intervention in mainstream settings where possible, many deaf and hearing impaired pupils are integrated into mainstream classes at primary and post-primary level with the assistance, as necessary, of resource teaching and special needs assistant support.

The Department has provided funding for a weekly home tuition service whereby tutors visit the homes of deaf pre-school children and deaf school-going pupils to provide training in Irish sign language for these children, their siblings and parents. In addition, the visiting teachers for the hearing impaired scheme provides a service to deaf and hearing impaired children from pre-school to third level.

An enhanced capitation grant is provided to special schools and mainstream schools with special classes supporting deaf and hearing impaired pupils and grant aid is available towards the special equipment needs of these pupils. Last November I announced increases of between 30% and 39% in the special capitation rates for these classes. The 2007 rate for children with hearing impairment is €785 per pupil, while for profoundly deaf children it is €805 per pupil. The Department also contributes to the professional development of teachers of deaf and hearing impaired children through funding courses in Irish sign language.

An advisory committee for the deaf and hard of hearing was established in 2001 and it met 38 times. In the course of the committee's work, however, it became apparent that there were entrenched, divergent views among representatives of deaf and hard of hearing persons and their families on approaches to the teaching of the deaf and hard of hearing and that there was little willingness to reach consensus. One group, which comes from an oralist tradition, favours a focus on teaching deaf and hard of hearing children to speak and to understand spoken language. Another group strongly advocates sign language as the appropriate and exclusive means of communication. As a result of these opposing views, the committee was unable to agree a final report, despite being set several deadlines for doing so.

In the circumstances, and following consultations between officials and the chairperson of the committee, the Department formed the view that there was no prospect of the advisory committee reaching an agreed position in the foreseeable future. The committee was therefore disbanded in 2004.

Following the establishment of the National Council for Special Education, the Department referred the issues that had been under consideration by the committee to the NCSE for its consideration. The council has commissioned a researcher from the Centre for Deaf Studies to work on this. The work is at an advanced stage and I will consider the matter further following receipt of the report from the NCSE.

Olwyn Enright (Laois-Offaly, Fine Gael)
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I congratulate the Minister of State, Deputy Haughey, on his appointment and wish him well. We do not intend that he will be in the job too long. I am sure he will do an excellent job. I also wish Deputy de Valera well on her impending retirement.

The community who care for the deaf are concerned that the system does not adequately provide for them. I accept some of what the Minister said in her reply. The education system is not embracing new technology to the extent it could. Such technology has the capacity to impact very positively on children who are deaf or hard of hearing. I share her concern over the different viewpoints on the committee, which may have led to some difficulty. We need to move beyond those difficulties for the sake of the children. Will the Minister consider setting student attainment targets and timeframes within which deaf children should reach milestones?

I appreciate that mainstreaming can be difficult in some areas. There is a view that children would do better if they had access to some other deaf pupils in the school. I know of some schools where deaf children are signing and the whole school embraces it. All children in the school are given the opportunity to participate in signing classes to allow them to communicate with deaf students. I know this is easier in small schools. Has the Minister considered establishing a centre for excellence for dealing with the issue, as proposed to the original committee, or does the issue fall under the remit of the National Council for Special Education?

Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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I share the Deputy's disappointment that the group failed to reach consensus. However, its members held very entrenched divergent views. It is important that the National Council for Special Education would try to get an overview of the issue bearing in mind these differing views and the research material available. I am not in a position to propose setting targets as each child is very different. I am guided by what the National Council for Special Education recommends in this regard.

It is interesting to see how many children are mainstreamed in schools. The priority is to teach sign language to the deaf child and his or her siblings and parents. The visiting teachers are doing a very good job in this regard. As it is such a difficult and sensitive issue for the deaf community who have failed to agree, it would be best to await the report of the National Council for Special Education. I am certainly willing to act on whatever it recommends.

Olwyn Enright (Laois-Offaly, Fine Gael)
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When will that report be available?

Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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I hope to receive it in the next few months as the council has been working on the matter.