Clare Daly (Dublin North, United Left)
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7. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if she will fully implement all articles of the EPSEN Act 2004 without further delay. [37929/14]

Clare Daly (Dublin North, United Left)
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The EPSEN Act was supposed to provide for the education of children with special needs and referred also to further and adult education. That has not happened and we do not have an inclusive or needs-based education system for special needs. Against the backdrop of the report of the outgoing Ombudsman for Children criticising the Government and referring to the large number of complaints the office handled because of the lack of resources, poor decision-making should not be justified on economic grounds. What are the plans of the Minister to fully implement all articles of the Act?

Jan O'Sullivan (Limerick City, Labour)
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A significant number of sections of the Education for Persons with Special Educational Needs Act, EPSEN, have been commenced, principally those establishing the National Council for Special Education, NCSE, and those promoting an inclusive approach to the education of children with special educational needs. In light of the very difficult economic situation and the significant costs involved in fully implementing the EPSEN Act, the previous Government deferred the full implementation of the EPSEN Act.

While awaiting the full implementation of the EPSEN Act, the NCSE has made a number of recommendations aimed at developing a better or more effective alternative to the current resource allocation model, which aims to move the system towards ultimate implementation of the EPSEN Act. It is intended to bring into effect many of the good ideas contained in the EPSEN Act, on a non-statutory basis initially, through policy developments across a range of areas, in conjunction with NCSE policy advice.

Clare Daly (Dublin North, United Left)
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The Act is ten years old and the reality for families and children with special needs is that they are going backwards. The National Council for Special Education was supposed to provide for resources and meet the needs of children with special educational needs but, in reality, it has been used to implement the cap on SNA posts in 2010 rather than the original aims of the Act. It has had a devastating impact on the children involved. For the current school year, 2014-15, some 40% of the applications for SNAs made by schools were rejected and 20% of applications for resource teachers were refused. These decisions on economic grounds are eroding the education of children with special needs. The Act was supposed to ensure these children's needs were met in an inclusive environment. Does the Minister accept that many children capable of mainstream education are finding themselves put into special schools or special units because the resources are not being made available to meet their needs? They are being left behind and the next generation of schoolchildren are being lined up in the same way unless the Act is fully implemented.

Jan O'Sullivan (Limerick City, Labour)
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The policy direction is moving towards the full implementation of the Act but finance is an issue. We had a tight financial situation and the National Council for Special Education suggested an additional investment over a period of years, up to €235 million per year across the education and health sectors, would be required to implement the Act. My Department believes the sum is a good deal more than that. We are moving gradually towards it. If we had more funding, we would move faster.

There has been a large increase in the number of resource teachers and SNAs in recent years. The NCSE is proposing new ways of allocating that are up for discussion and it would allocate resources in line with the level of need rather than by disability category. It would get rid of the medical model and ensure the resources are in the schools before the child comes in so that parents do not have to pay for expensive assessments.

Clare Daly (Dublin North, United Left)
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That will be cold comfort to the parents involved. A right to an education is a fundamental human right for all children to achieve to the best of their ability. If a few corporations paid the effective rate of corporation tax, not to mind increasing it, we would have extra resources. Rather than trying to reduce the tax rate for the top earners, if we collected a bit more we would have plenty of resources.

Parents are being excluded. Non-cost measures in the Act, such as the involvement of parents in the education and decision-making for their children, is not being implemented. Parents are not being involved and SENOs are making decisions without meeting parents and taking on board their viewpoints. There is supposed to be an independent appeals mechanism in the Act but no right to appeal is in place. Presumably, these measures would not be costly. Does the Minister agree we waste millions of euro every year in legal actions that parents are forced to take in order to achieve through litigation their legal rights in the area? Would we not be far better off, rather than enriching the legal profession, guaranteeing the rights at source?

Jan O'Sullivan (Limerick City, Labour)
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Thankfully, the economy is recovering and we are in a position to have more money to spend on these areas. I am in favour of ensuring we focus on social, as well as economic, recovery. With regard to parental involvement, schools are encouraged to use individual education plans. In that context, discussion with parents should be part of it. The information we have is that more schools use some form of individual planning for children with special needs. If there is an appeal system, I am not sure that it would cost no money. It will involve further diagnosis and assessment and further professional opinions. There is a cost to an appeal system.