Results 12,141-12,160 of 32,583 for speaker:Richard Bruton

Select Committee on Education and Skills: Education (Admission to Schools) Bill 2016: Committee Stage (28 Jun 2017)

Richard Bruton: No, it is-----

Select Committee on Education and Skills: Education (Admission to Schools) Bill 2016: Committee Stage (28 Jun 2017)

Richard Bruton: Special education need is defined by the same meaning as is held within the Education for Persons with Special Educational Needs Act. What we are trying to do is provide for a situation in which, if a special school or special class has been provided for and is seeking to cater to a particular type of need, the admission statement of the school shall include a statement that the school may...

Select Committee on Education and Skills: Education (Admission to Schools) Bill 2016: Committee Stage (28 Jun 2017)

Richard Bruton: Let me clarify it.

Select Committee on Education and Skills: Education (Admission to Schools) Bill 2016: Committee Stage (28 Jun 2017)

Richard Bruton: Perhaps I can clarify that. A special class is defined in the legislation. A special class means a class that has been established by a school, with the approval of the Minister, to provide an education exclusively for students with a specified category or categories of special educational need. The admissions policy of the school must state that it has special classes and it is specified...

Select Committee on Education and Skills: Education (Admission to Schools) Bill 2016: Committee Stage (28 Jun 2017)

Richard Bruton: It is, yes.

Select Committee on Education and Skills: Education (Admission to Schools) Bill 2016: Committee Stage (28 Jun 2017)

Richard Bruton: It is only, for example, if a special unit has been provided for deaf children-----

Select Committee on Education and Skills: Education (Admission to Schools) Bill 2016: Committee Stage (28 Jun 2017)

Richard Bruton: If a child's provision is in a spectrum, then any child in that spectrum has to be admitted. The Minister defines the special unit. When a special unit is created it is created for a certain category of need. It is equipped to meet the needs of those children. It is staffed with people with the experience to deliver to those particular children. If it is a deaf unit, it will have...

Select Committee on Education and Skills: Education (Admission to Schools) Bill 2016: Committee Stage (28 Jun 2017)

Richard Bruton: Deputy Joan Burton raises the wider issue of how children with special needs are admitted and what provision is made for them. Over 60% of children with special needs are accommodated in mainstream classes. In terms of policy, the NCSE advises on what is the most appropriate setting for them. As I said, almost two thirds of children with special needs are in mainstream classes which are...

Select Committee on Education and Skills: Education (Admission to Schools) Bill 2016: Committee Stage (28 Jun 2017)

Richard Bruton: The motivation is-----

Select Committee on Education and Skills: Education (Admission to Schools) Bill 2016: Committee Stage (28 Jun 2017)

Richard Bruton: On a literal interpretation of the Act they would be given a right of access.

Select Committee on Education and Skills: Education (Admission to Schools) Bill 2016: Committee Stage (28 Jun 2017)

Richard Bruton: The amendment seeks to amend the statement that a school in its admission policy must not discriminate on a particular set of grounds, including the disability of a student. Taken literally, this means that a school cannot discriminate based on the disability, or lack of, of a child presenting. The default position, if the amendment is not made, is that if a school has a special class...

Select Committee on Education and Skills: Education (Admission to Schools) Bill 2016: Committee Stage (28 Jun 2017)

Richard Bruton: The Bill, if enacted, will provide that a school that is not oversubscribed cannot discriminate on religious grounds in order to refuse admission.

Select Committee on Education and Skills: Education (Admission to Schools) Bill 2016: Committee Stage (28 Jun 2017)

Richard Bruton: It is on page 7, section 62(6)(c). It provides that a school shall enroll each student seeking admission to the school with certain exceptions.

Select Committee on Education and Skills: Education (Admission to Schools) Bill 2016: Committee Stage (28 Jun 2017)

Richard Bruton: It is on page 7.

Select Committee on Education and Skills: Education (Admission to Schools) Bill 2016: Committee Stage (28 Jun 2017)

Richard Bruton: Section 62(6)(c).

Select Committee on Education and Skills: Education (Admission to Schools) Bill 2016: Committee Stage (28 Jun 2017)

Richard Bruton: A school can only refuse where it is essential to maintain its ethos. It would have to establish it was essential to retain the ethos and it is not an option where a school just decides it does not want a child of a particular religion. Its only defence would be where it was essential to refuse to maintain the ethos, or if refuses to admit a student who is not of that denomination and, in...

Select Committee on Education and Skills: Education (Admission to Schools) Bill 2016: Committee Stage (28 Jun 2017)

Richard Bruton: The point Deputy Thomas Byrne raised was whether there is a conflict between the admissions policy set out here and the other section. Until we amend and come back here with amendments to the equal status legislation, and I have indicated it is my intention to provide amendments, that equal status legislation exists and this Bill is just reflecting what it provides, namely, if a school...

Select Committee on Education and Skills: Education (Admission to Schools) Bill 2016: Committee Stage (28 Jun 2017)

Richard Bruton: I do not rule out anything.

Select Committee on Education and Skills: Education (Admission to Schools) Bill 2016: Committee Stage (28 Jun 2017)

Richard Bruton: The position, as we discussed earlier, is that we are not changing the Equal Status Act here. There is a desire by the committee to consider changes to the Equal Status Act and we indicated that we will revert to that issue. If we make changes to the Equal Status Act, there will have to be consequential changes to this Bill. I fully recognise that point. Some of these provisions, which...

Select Committee on Education and Skills: Education (Admission to Schools) Bill 2016: Committee Stage (28 Jun 2017)

Richard Bruton: The same situation prevails, that we are not debating amendments here to the Equal Status Act. Whatever changes we make here do not change the Equal Status Act. Under the Equal Status Act, one has the right, if challenged, to go to the WRC and to prove that a refusal he or she has made is essential to maintain the ethos of the school. I understand that has not been tested and schools have...