Brendan Daly (Fianna Fail)

I thank the Minister of State for the brave work she is doing in the Department of Education and Science about which she keeps this House regularly briefed. I welcome this Bill because it establishes the foundation for a new service for those with special educational needs. The service has been fragmented, disjointed and unco-ordinated over the years and one of the greatest criticisms has been that the Department of Education and Science was unaware of what the health boards were doing and vice versa. Senator Dooley mentioned the shortage of professionals required to provide the necessary services, particularly in isolated areas, whether speech therapy, psychological services and so on. These professionals are currently in short supply and it is often the people who most need the service who are denied it because they reside in an isolated location and because the service is not available in a co-ordinated manner.

I am concerned about the issue of early diagnosis of those with special educational needs. It is vital that problems are identified before children even start school. The emphasis in this Bill is on the education system but the real problems arise when parents discover, perhaps very shortly after their child is born, that he or she will have significant special educational needs in the long term. This is long before there is any contact with the education system and any proper diagnosis of a child's particular educational difficulties. There is an absence of support, advice and guidance for families in those critical days after they discover they have a serious problem on their hands. The extent of the problem and its long-term consequences may not be identified for some time.

The Minister of State with responsibility for children outlined the provisions of the Bill. I draw the Minister of State, Deputy de Valera's, attention to the need for an early response and to have some help and advice mechanism available for people when they discover, sometimes to their alarm and consternation, that their child has a problem that will remain with him or her throughout their life. That is a frightening thought. I know many families who have had to cope with that type of situation and they have felt frustrated, and sometimes irritated, by the services provided. This aspect is of critical importance.

Despite modern technology and the large amount of investment made in the modernisation of health services generally, increasing numbers of children still appear to be presenting with difficulties that are almost insurmountable. This is why I drew the attention of the Minister of State in the other debate to the need to undertake detailed research and to allocate funding to determine, if possible, the causes of some of the problems that arise despite all the expertise that is available. All the small maternity hospitals were closed, for example, because it was thought that if their functions could be handled differently and better, these problems would not arise, given modern sophisticated systems with paediatric and all the other relevant advice that is available.

However, there appear to be increasing problems, as highlighted in west Clare recently when we met parents from the Loop Head peninsula, as the Minister of State knows. They have children with special needs and only a poor service, if any, is available. Sometimes they have to travel many miles to get advice. In some cases they must go abroad to Hungary and other countries. They feel there is some research and advice there which is not available in this country and that help may be provided for them abroad that they cannot get here. Measures should be taken before this legislation is concluded, possibly on Committee Stage, to ensure some form of guidance and advisory assistance is provided to parents in the early stages of diagnosis, long before the children go to school or need special classes and teachers. This should be made available in an organised and planned way, particularly to give parents up-to-date scientific assessments of their children's prospects and how matters may be addressed.

There may be a need for special education for some teachers as well. Under this legislation a significant amount of responsibility is being placed on teachers and the teaching profession. I am not sure they are qualified to deal with many of the psychological and other problems that will arise in these cases. They will need to have professional help available to them at an early stage to enable them to carry out the work they need to do. It would be most unfair to place responsibility on people in schools and in the educational system for matters for which they are neither trained nor qualified. I presume there is some level of training in the colleges of education in view of the new responsibilities that will be placed on teachers. I do not believe it will be possible to provide a psychological service that is needed in many cases given the professional norms in teaching at present. I do not know whether there is a plan to deal with that aspect. Perhaps we could get clarification at some stage on how that is to be addressed.

There were several references in the Minister of State's speech to the relationship between the system being provided under this legislation and the various health boards. However, as we all know, the health boards are being abolished. There is no clear indication at this stage as to what way the different areas will be managed under the new model of health administration. I understand there are to be four boards for the different areas. I am not certain that the wisest course is to divide the activities of the current health boards between the four new systems. In legislation such as this, it is timely to examine whether it is necessary to rearrange the administration of the health authorities, especially the new forums that are to be set up in the respective areas of health administration, so that there is participation in the new health system by elected representatives in the local communities.

It is time to examine how the new system will dovetail with what is being provided under this legislation. It is not good enough to continue with the current system, where one hand does not know in what the other is involved. We had experience of this recently where services were being sanctioned by one Department while another wanted them phased out. It is time to stop the fragmentation, division and compartmentalisation of activities that has been taking place in various Departments.

Perhaps the national council, as proposed in the Bill, might be the vehicle to deal with that matter. I welcome the establishment of the national council. I strongly urge the Minister of State, when the council is set up, to advise it about the various issues that have arisen in these debates. Sometimes, although legislation gives an overall concept of what is to be put in place, it does not always work out in reality. Perhaps before the legislation is finalised, the Minister for Health and Children, Deputy Martin, might give some indication as to how the service being designed under this Bill will dovetail with the reorganised health system that is being put in place and how local community involvement may be built into that also. That will again help to eliminate much of the frustration being felt by parents as regards special educational activity.

Recently we saw the concerns of people vividly expressed in the European elections, when Ms Kathy Sinnott was overwhelmingly elected on the basis of the activities in which she has been involved. She has been highlighting areas of disability for many years and people's special needs. Some highly experienced politicians, such as Mr. Gerry Collins, participated in that contest, yet out of the blue Ms Sinnott was catapulted into the European Parliament, mainly through the support of people who feel that this area has been neglected. There is a public perception that the area of children with special needs and requirements has not been given the financial or human resources attention it deserves. There is a clear signal there for us from the public in the constituency of Munster that people want action to deal with the issues with which Ms Sinnott is connected. We should learn from that lesson and take appropriate action. There should be more community involvement with the national council, more participation by local communities in the framing of arrangements to be put in place for the administration of services and, perhaps above all, a system of public private partnership to provide facilities to deal with some of the problems that exist. When the Minister for Finance introduced tax concessions for those providing respite care in institutions which care for elderly patients, many establishments were able to increase their bed capacity. Nursing homes like St. Theresa's in Kilrush were able to build new extensions and to provide extra beds as a result of that incentive.

Perhaps the Minister of State could speak to the Minister for Finance about the necessity to provide further incentives for those providing respite and care assistance. Many people are frustrated by the lack of places providing respite care for children. Also, there are not sufficient facilities available for carers, be it equipment, additional beds and accommodation or additional assistance, some of which is being provided by volunteer organisations. I welcome the work undertaken by voluntary organisations such as the Brothers of Charity. Such organisations receive a substantial amount of funding from health boards. Many people are critical of Government in that regard and often feel that were it not for a particular voluntary organisation they would have nothing. However, what they do not realise is that the voluntary organisations are substantially funded by the State, something not often acknowledged or appreciated.

I do not wish to delay the Bill's passage. Members will have another opportunity on Committee Stage to tease it out further. This legislation provides us with an opportunity in the preparation of the administration of the new health boards to weld together a system which will respond to people's needs so that people will no longer be frustrated in terms of how they feel they are being treated. When this legislation is enacted and the national council takes up its role we will have a system, which can respond quickly and professionally to meet the requirements of those with special educational needs.

I hope the legislation will deal satisfactorily with the needs of those disappointed and frustrated by previous legislation and will provide those who care for children with special needs with an easier life. In many cases such special needs can be alleviated by support, guidance and financial assistance.