Willie O'Dea (Limerick City, Fianna Fail)
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Question 9: To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the progress made in relation to the publication of a plan to implement the Education for People with Special Education Needs Act 2004; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [19174/11]

Pearse Doherty (Donegal South West, Sinn Fein)
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Question 19: To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if he will explain the root cause in the delay in implementing fully the Education for Persons with Special Educational Needs Act . [19149/11]

Sandra McLellan (Cork East, Sinn Fein)
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Question 29: To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the timescale in which he proposes to initiate fully the commencement acts that are needed to implement the Education for People with Special Educational Needs Act. [19162/11]

Ruairi Quinn (Dublin South East, Labour)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 9, 19 and 29 together.

The Deputies will be aware that a number of sections of the Education for Persons with Special Educational Needs, EPSEN, Act have been commenced. The National Council for Special Education, NCSE, made recommendations which suggested additional investment over a period of years of up to €235 million per annum across the education and health sectors would be required to fully implement the EPSEN Act. My Department's opinion is that the level of investment required would be greater than that envisaged in the NCSE report. In the light of the very difficult economic situation and these significant costs, the previous Government deferred full implementation of the EPSEN Act. Given the costs involved and current fiscal constraints, addressing this issue will be very challenging. I will be considering how we can develop a plan to implement the objectives of the EPSEN Act to deliver improved educational outcomes for students with special needs.

Brendan Smith (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail)
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The Minister made the point earlier that there had been an increase of 1,000% in the number of special needs assistants in schools. He also said there were 60,000 primary teachers and 10,000 special needs assistants. It might be useful to know how these compare with the figures for primary level education in other countries in the European Union. Deputy Crowe has referred to a lack of uniformity in assessing the needs of particular children. From my knowledge as a public representative, the appointment of special educational needs organisers was a worthwhile and positive development which stemmed from the establishment of the National Council for Special Education. Is there any element of the EPSEN Act which the Minister hopes to initiate, considering the commitment given in the programme for Government, perhaps an aspect that may not be as demanding as other strands of the Act?

Ruairi Quinn (Dublin South East, Labour)
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I share the Deputy's concern and those expressed by a wide number of Deputies across the House. The advice to me in the Department is that there would be difficulties if we tried to introduce the legislation on an age-cohort basis. I intend to review the spirit of the legislation in these difficult times to see what provisions can be implemented, perhaps by different means. I am not entirely sure, as it is a complex issue. However, we are simply not in a position in current circumstances to even contemplate taking on a recurring additional burden of €300 million each year. I would be misleading the House and all those directly involved if I were to give any sense of hope this was possible.

Seán Crowe (Dublin South West, Sinn Fein)
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The Minister states the investment could be more than €290 million. Can a breakdown be provided of what has not been implemented? For instance, the Joint Committee on the Implementation of the Good Friday Agreement, of which I am a member, is carrying out an audit of the provisions of the Good Friday Agreement that have not been implemented. The investment needs to be rights-based. Is that where the cost difficulty lies? When the legislation was introduced many years ago, everyone knew there would be a cost factor. For how long must people with disabilities wait? If the timetable is that it will not happen in the foreseeable future, that is not fair to those who want to become full members of society. We placed them in mainstream schools to try to move forward, yet we are now holding them back. Society is impairing them.

Ruairi Quinn (Dublin South East, Labour)
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I understand the Deputy's point and heard him use the phrase "rights-based". One could exercise these rights if this was a sovereign republic in control of its own economy. There is only one crowd in the world who will lend us money at present and that is the European Central Bank.

Seán Crowe (Dublin South West, Sinn Fein)
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We had choices as to how we could have dealt with it.

Ruairi Quinn (Dublin South East, Labour)
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It is the European Central Bank or the money-lenders. The House needs to understand the reality of where we are. We have lost our economic sovereignty. We cannot deliver on a rights-based approach because we do not have the money to do it. The money we would attempt to offer would be provided by the European Central Bank. The IMF is in this city. When Deputy Boyd Barrett was outside the Department of Finance yesterday, he made this very clear. There is nobody else who will lend us money, except at moneylenders' rates.

Seán Crowe (Dublin South West, Sinn Fein)
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Therefore, we treat our citizens as second-class citizens.

Michael Kitt (Galway East, Fianna Fail)
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I ask the Minister to finish as I must call Deputy Boyd Barrett.

Ruairi Quinn (Dublin South East, Labour)
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I will not get into the blame game because everybody knows how we got here. The debate has to be informed by reality. I support what Deputy Crowe is looking for and we may be able to look at it when we have regained our sovereignty but not before.

Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
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Does the Minister really expect the parents of the most vulnerable children in the country to accept that answer, given that both the Labour Party and Fine Gael were extremely vociferous in demanding full implementation of this legislation just one year ago? Does he really expect them to accept that money cannot be found when the value of the most recent bond paid for Anglo Irish Bank far exceeded the €230 million he says is necessary to implement the legislation? We can find the money to pay off the bondholders of a zombie bank such as Anglo Irish Bank, but we are unable to find the money to meet the needs of the most vulnerable children in the country. In the discussions with the EU-IMF delegation do we tell them we have no chance of economic recovery if implementation of the Government's austerity programme means substantial and consequential long-term adverse effects in terms of the quality of education provided for young people who are the key to our economic recovery? Is it not asking us to apply cannibal logic to our society and children? How can we accept this?

Ruairi Quinn (Dublin South East, Labour)
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The reality, sad and all as it may be, is that we have to reduce current expenditure in the education sector in the forthcoming fiscal year. The thrust of my reply is that if we were to attempt to implement in full the balance of what is required under the EPSEN Act - instead of reducing expenditure by a certain amount, which will be tough when the issue is debated before Christmas - we would add an additional mountain of approximately €235 million, according to the NCSE, or something closer to €300 million, according to my Department. It is simply not possible to do it. We will look at other ways of trying to address, with limited resources, some of the more acute components relating to people with special needs. I would be misleading the House if I were to say we could do it.

Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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The problem is that the disability community and parents of children with disabilities the length and breadth of the country are aware that the last time there was great economic growth and we had more money than sense, we did not act on this issue and that as soon as the previous Government came up against an economic problem, this was one of the first measures to be put in cold storage. What parents and I want to hear from the Minister is that when our economic sovereignty is restored, this issue will be a priority for his Department and that he will have the preparatory work done now in order that the Government will not miss opportunities to deliver, unlike the previous Government.

Ruairi Quinn (Dublin South East, Labour)
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That is a very fair request. We will explore ways by which we can implement the EPSEN Act.