Seanad debates

Wednesday, 23 June 2004

Education for Persons with Special Educational Needs Bill 2003: Second Stage.

 

1:00 pm

Margaret Cox (Fianna Fail)

I welcome the Minister of State and his officials. I wish to focus on one aspect of the legislation. While I recognise great strides have made in the area of disability over the past ten years, the good work cannot be maintained without this legislation and much more needs to be done.

The number of resource teachers has increased from 104 to 2,300 while the number of special needs assistants has increased from 300 to 5,500 since 1997. Meanwhile, spending on education for children with special needs has increased from €671,000 to €3.2 million. This is welcome and necessary.

However, my difficulty lies with the definition of a "child", which is "a child means a person not more than 18 years of age". That is not acceptable to me as a sister of somebody with a special need or to the parents of children with special needs. Let us recognise the practicalities. Such children do not enter school at the age of four. Children without special needs spend 13 years in the education system having spent their first four years at home. Some do not enter school until they are five and, therefore, are 17 or 18 when they leave school.

The parents of children with special needs bring their children to as many educational establishments as they can and they spend as much time with them as they can to ensure they are fit to enter mainstream schools, if that is their choice. Such children, therefore, are at a disadvantage before they enter the education system because they are usually six or seven before they attend school. That is the right age for them to do so because they are at a point where they can benefit from the resources that have been put in place in recent years.

If everything works out perfectly, they will be 20 before they leave the education system. If the legislation is enacted as drafted, such children will not have the right to support from the State once they turn 18. I accept the Minister of State's statement that the State does not have a constitutional obligation but this does not mean it will fail to provide support. However, the State only provides support when it has enough money. Educating children with special needs is costly.

It is up to the Ministers for Education and Science and Finance to provide resources. I have met Ministers for Finance from various Governments over the years, not only this one which has presided over a healthy economy for the past number of years. Various Ministers for Finance have told their Cabinet colleagues they must cut back on funding. The Minister for Finance has provided €3.2 million for special education this year and, as far as he is concerned, it is up to the Minister for Education and Science to resolve the special needs problem. The Minister for Education and Science must find the money to provide resources so that 19 year old children receive the education to which they are entitled. According to the Minister for Finance, it is not his problem because he is providing the Minister for Education and Science with a budget. That is not good enough. The Government should not accept legislation that defines a child as a person of not more than 18 years.

Children with physical disabilities also start school late. They are in the same position. I acknowledge the hard work that has been done to address this issue. For example, the child's education plan can be reviewed because he or she is about to turn 18. However, the plan could be reviewed when the child is 16 but, if he or she is sick for a year, he or she will not return to school until he or she is 18. The principal is charged with identifying the child's needs even though he or she will be 19 when he or she finishes school and the principal is also charged with identifying the needs of four and five year olds. However, the 19 year old is still a child, irrespective of how "child" is defined in legislation. A child is what we have at 17, 18 or 19 years of age. What principal will be able to say to a four year old: "I am sorry but I cannot give you a special needs assistant because I must provide an assistant for another person"? If parents feel that is not fair they must enter the appeal process. Does anyone in the Department or the Minister's office understand what it is like to rear a child who has special needs? Do they understand it is a 24-7 job, 52 weeks of the year? The parents of those children live in hope that their child will have some acceptable quality of life but then they learn they must appeal to a special committee or engage in a judicial review. Who is fooling who? All we are asking for is a proper definition that recognises the needs of the special children of our State. No Minister should tell me that it is not possible to have a definition of "child" in one Act which differs from the definition in other Acts, as we have examples of it throughout our legislative framework. "Employer" is defined one way in the Unfair Dismissals Act and differently in the working time Act.

I investigated this matter and felt we or the Opposition could amend the legislation, offering the Minister the chance to change the age of the child. That is not possible, because the amendment will be disallowed. The only people who can bring in that amendment are those in Government, and I want that to go back clearly to the Department. It is our responsibility as a Government to change the definition of a child as being a person of not more than 18 years of age. That is not acceptable and we are the only people who can act. We cannot wait for the Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform to bring in legislation on disability rights. I have faith in a lot of people in the Government but I do not have faith in that Department to bring in legislation. I have never seen it go out of its way to bring in legislation to protect people, particularly the most vulnerable people in our society — children with special needs. I appeal to the Minister of State and his officials to bring the message back loud and clear — there is no way that the Government can fail the children of Ireland by allowing this legislation to be passed with a definition stating a child is a person of not more than 18 years. It is not good enough for Fianna Fáil and it is not good enough for the country.

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