Liam Fitzgerald (Fianna Fail)

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 section will allay the concerns of parents and representative groups.

Many services are provided for in the Bill and a great deal of debate has also been generated about assessment procedures and individual education plans. Anyone who ever had the slightest contact with education, whether as a parent, teacher or whatever, will be all too aware of the disastrous situation which has obtained in respect of assessment procedures, the timescales involved and waiting lists. All politicians will have been approached, from time to time, by parents seeking assistance in having their children assessed because he or she was deemed to have a particular or special difficulty at school. Everyone will have been confronted with the same problem on most occasions, namely, the waiting lists. Senator Ulick Burke referred to the timescales involved in this regard. It is true that waiting lists remain in place.