Results 201-220 of 468 for speaker:Liam Fitzgerald

Seanad: Education for Persons with Special Educational Needs Bill 2003: Second Stage. (23 Jun 2004)

Liam Fitzgerald: I am sure Senator O'Toole will find it——

Seanad: Education for Persons with Special Educational Needs Bill 2003: Second Stage. (23 Jun 2004)

Liam Fitzgerald: ——more than satisfactory to articulate that irritation.

Seanad: Education for Persons with Special Educational Needs Bill 2003: Second Stage. (23 Jun 2004)

Liam Fitzgerald: Since I first witnessed or commented on legislation in this House in 1981, I have not seen such a fundamental shift with regard to commitment to resources to fund the services proposed in a Bill——

Seanad: Education for Persons with Special Educational Needs Bill 2003: Second Stage. (23 Jun 2004)

Liam Fitzgerald: ——as defined in section 13 of this Bill. The new section 13 in the amended Bill imposes a statutory onus on the Minister for Education and Science, the Minister for Health and Children and the Minister for Finance——

Seanad: Education for Persons with Special Educational Needs Bill 2003: Second Stage. (23 Jun 2004)

Liam Fitzgerald: The truth sometimes hurts.

Seanad: Education for Persons with Special Educational Needs Bill 2003: Second Stage. (23 Jun 2004)

Liam Fitzgerald: Some irritation or hurt is causing this disturbance and unrest among the Opposition. I beg the Leas-Chathaoirleach for protection to make my humble contribution and disabuse the Opposition of some misguided notions on this.

Seanad: Education for Persons with Special Educational Needs Bill 2003: Second Stage. (23 Jun 2004)

Liam Fitzgerald: This legislation imposes a statutory onus on the Minister for Education and Science, the Minister for Health and Children and the Minister for Finance to have regard to the constitutional imperative. This has always existed under Article 42 of the Constitution. There is now a statutory onus on these Ministers to have regard to that and to provide for the educational needs of all children....

Seanad: Education for Persons with Special Educational Needs Bill 2003: Second Stage. (23 Jun 2004)

Liam Fitzgerald: The range of services for which the Bill provides is no longer aspirational. Most Bills, except those from the Department of Finance, contain a list of aspirations, which is good because they are the principles espoused by the Bill but the services are defined or set down within the Bill in a committed but aspirational form. That aspirational dimension is set aside here.

Seanad: Education for Persons with Special Educational Needs Bill 2003: Second Stage. (23 Jun 2004)

Liam Fitzgerald: The section provides somebody, whether a professional, a parent, voluntary organisation or representative group, with real teeth to seek a judicial review of a decision or decisions by the Ministers. That is a significant difference. I congratulate the Minister, Deputy Dempsey, on securing this ground-breaking measure from his Cabinet colleagues. I am confident the implementation of the...

Seanad: Education for Persons with Special Educational Needs Bill 2003: Second Stage. (23 Jun 2004)

Liam Fitzgerald: I have evidence that they exist in my constituency. When I am at home, my better half constantly informs me of the difficulties that exist. Such difficulties impinge most at junior infant level. Everyone agrees that justice delayed is justice denied. However, we should also agree that the delay of a service to a child with a special need is a right denied. The damage caused by such a failure...

Seanad: Education for Persons with Special Educational Needs Bill 2003: Second Stage. (23 Jun 2004)

Liam Fitzgerald: I would never do that.

Seanad: Education for Persons with Special Educational Needs Bill 2003: Second Stage. (23 Jun 2004)

Liam Fitzgerald: The Senator can take my word for it.

Seanad: Education for Persons with Special Educational Needs Bill 2003: Committee Stage. (6 Jul 2004)

Liam Fitzgerald: I am sympathetic towards the concerns articulated on both sides. Nobody wants a lacuna to result from, or even be defined in, the Bill for post-18 year olds. Those of us who have been in the educational field or are parents will have children or know friends of their children who availed of or should have been able to avail of special educational facilities. I am not sure how amending the...

Seanad: Education for Persons with Special Educational Needs Bill 2003: Committee Stage. (6 Jul 2004)

Liam Fitzgerald: The amendment has much to recommend it and I support the principles articulated by Senator Ulick Burke. Over the years, many opportunities were lost due to a lack of co-ordination between the Department of Health and Children, the Department of Education and Science, and the Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform. The appointment of the Minister of State, whose responsibility spans...

Seanad: Education for Persons with Special Educational Needs Bill 2003: Committee Stage. (6 Jul 2004)

Liam Fitzgerald: I have little about which to disagree with Senator Tuffy in this regard. Where the special educational need is deemed by the principal of the school — who, as a professional, is rightly the first arbiter of the case because of his or her statutory status in education — to be relatively uncomplicated, there is a clear onus on the principal to take a sequence of actions culminating in the...

Seanad: Education for Persons with Special Educational Needs Bill 2003: Committee Stage. (6 Jul 2004)

Liam Fitzgerald: I am not clear why Senator Burke deems it necessary to include the adjective "individual" because my understanding of the Bill was that at its core was the individuality of the child. That core principle is consistent throughout the Bill. Perhaps I have misinterpreted it but that was my clear understanding of what the Bill was about. If it was not about individuality and the individual needs...

Seanad: Education for Persons with Special Educational Needs Bill 2003: Committee Stage. (6 Jul 2004)

Liam Fitzgerald: As a parent and — in remote years — a teacher, I am very supportive of the Bill's provisions which bring parents more and more towards the centre of participation in the process. I have difficulty with the amendment for a couple of reasons. It is very difficult to define the role of "partnership". If one were to include the words "in a spirit of partnership", certain difficulties would...

Seanad: Education for Persons with Special Educational Needs Bill 2003: Committee Stage. (6 Jul 2004)

Liam Fitzgerald: Is it not true that this matter is covered under the guidelines and regulations in the National Council for Special Education Order? Once specialists, whether operating privately or publicly, carry out the assessment within those guidelines, they are covered.

Seanad: Education for Persons with Special Educational Needs Bill 2003: Committee Stage (Resumed). (7 Jul 2004)

Liam Fitzgerald: When Senator O'Toole and Senator Tuffy raised the issue previously it was unclear to me what they meant. However, the Minister of State and Senator Tuffy have now clarified that they were referring specifically to instruments of measurement. I take it that the Minister of State is dealing with that matter. This amendment relates to the wider issue of children's cultural and linguistic...

Seanad: Education for Persons with Special Educational Needs Bill 2003: Committee Stage (Resumed). (7 Jul 2004)

Liam Fitzgerald: On section 9, specifically section 9(7), I am sympathetic to the sentiments expressed by Senator Ulick Burke and the Minister of State has responded to them cogently. On Second Stage, it was remiss of me not to acknowledge the considerable input of Senator O'Toole to section 9(7). I was not aware of his input but was aware that an amendment had been tabled on this section in the Dáil. I...