Joe O'Toole (Independent)

This comes down to resources. I mentioned the resources in terms of providing the specific set of additional support services outside the school. There may be requirements for the class teacher to provide additional types of assistance and support structures. In a situation where more demands are put on the child's class teacher, it is inevitable that attention will be diverted from other children in the class. We must get this balance right. It is perfectly acceptable to present the specific needs and goals of a child with special educational needs to his or her class teacher but we must also accept that the fulfilment of those needs will require time and resources for that teacher. This Bill must stipulate that the resources required by the school include a recognition that the additional levels of assessment, administration, planning, case conferencing, paper work and organisation will require more administrative effort for the principal or designated teacher. The Minister of State is well placed to appreciate this necessity as some 95% of the schools in his constituency have less than 100 pupils.

Let us consider a small school with which the Minister of State may be familiar in the Gaeltacht region of the Galway West constituency. Will there be a room for the case conferences to take place? Is there a medical room in the school? A space in the school for the principal to sit down with the people who will be conducting the case conferences in order to develop the education plans is a simple but necessary requirement. There was a time when every school was entitled to a medical room where parents could talk to teachers about their children's needs in private. If a principal is taken from regular school work to attend a case conference, or a class teacher is removed from the classroom for the same purpose, and I am not objecting to this in any way, there are some 20 other pupils in the class who need to be looked after during that time, some of whom may require additional support. We are back to the issues of resources for the school in order to make this approach feasible and it is crucial that we recognise what needs to be done.

Another practical concern is that this Bill will establish a new system of support structures for schools in the form of special educational needs organisers, as stipulated in section 26. The description of their role is quite vague, although I recognise that it is difficult to be specific at this stage in the formulation of the legislation. However, there is a flip side to the provision that the board of management, principal, teachers and all relevant members of staff must co-operate fully with the requirements of the special educational needs organiser namely that the special needs organiser in turn must co-operate with the organisation of the school, the school plan and the principal's and class teacher's work. He or she must be part of what we call in the rules of national schools "an foireann scoile" .

One of the difficulties with this Bill and similar legislation is that it must take cognisance of the cultural background of the children. Go mórmhór tá mé ag díriú isteach ar leanaí atá ag teacht as na Gaeltachtaí agus leanaí a bhfuil Gaeilge acu mar ghnáth-teanga an lae sa bhaile. Tá daltaí mar sin ag teacht isteach faoin Acht seo, agus caithfear educational plan a chur le chéile dóibh. Tá assessments á ndéanamh ar a son nó orthu. Caithfidh pé duine atá á ndéanamh sin bheith sáite i gcultúr an linbh le tuiscint ar cad atá ar siúl in áit dhúchais an duine óig sin. Is cuimhin liom, tuairim is deich mbliana nó dosaen bliain ó shin, go raibh muid ag féachaint ar na deacrachtaí a bhain le múinteoirí cabhrach a chur ar fáil do scoileanna Gaeltachta i ndáilcheantar an Aire. An uair sin, chuir Muintearas i Leitir Mór feachtas ar bun chun díriú isteach agus taighde a dhéanamh ar na deacrachtaí agus na coinníollacha chun múinteoirí cabhrach a chur ar fáil do leanaí Gaeltachta. An uair sin, cuireadh tuarascáil le chéile atá sa Roinn, agus bhí an Roinn an-tógtha léi. Nuair a cuireadh le chéile í, dúradar go rabhadar in ann tacaíocht a thabhairt di. Tá sé sin ar fáil.

Ba mhaith liom go ndéanfaí taighde den tsórt céanna ar chur i bhfeidhm an Achta seo. Tá sé sin thar a bheith tábhachtach ag an bpointe seo. Ba chóir bheith cinnte i gcónaí that the cultural, linguistic or other background of the child is taken into account. Anyone here with a background in teaching would support that. I ask that this be considered as a possibility and will table an amendment to that effect on Committee Stage. I will be very careful about it and will not relate it to the Irish language only, because in terms of the issues we are currently dealing with, it could relate to children from a variety of backgrounds in this era of multiculturalism. It is important that we would look at a requirement that the operation of this Act would take into account a child's cultural background and linguistic needs. Tá sé sin an-tábhachtach, agus tá a fhios agam go dtuigfidh an tAire an tábhacht a bhaineann leis sin agus go mbeidh sé féin sásta tacaíocht a thabhairt don moladh sin, más féidir in aon chor é. Tá sé thar a bheith tábhachtach. Senator Fitzgerald correctly stated that, as it is written, the plan is state-of-the-art. If the resources are provided for this to be fully implemented, it could solve huge problems. This is the time to do it.

I referred earlier to the National Educational Psychological Service. There is a gap in the NEPS in counties in the mid-west, in particular, such as Limerick, Donegal and places in between, but perhaps not the county of the Minister of State, Deputy Fahey.