Margaret Cox (Fianna Fail)

The Minister of State and his officials will be aware that on Second Stage I spoke at length on the issue of the definition of a child being a person of not more than 18 years of age and the difficulty of children who, because of their special needs and disability, start school at a later age than other school going children. They sometimes start school at six and seven years of age instead of at the age of four or five. There is an issue about them reaching the age of 18 years before having completed their education. Often when children with a disability are in school, they also have additional health problems which means they need to spend longer at school. As I said on Second Stage, the onus is on the Government because the Opposition cannot insert an amendment, given that it would mean a charge on the State. It is up to the Government to deal with this issue.

I have been informed by the Minister, Deputy Noel Dempsey, that the Supreme Court has defined the age of a child to be up to 18 years. This is a fine Bill, a great Bill which is long awaited. I have no wish to disrupt its passage through the House but I cannot stand by and allow legislation to go through which I believe is fundamentally flawed. If children with special needs are being given rights up to the age of 18 years, then they should be given the right in this Bill and not in any other legislation, such as a disability Bill, to continue their second level education past the age of 18 years. It is not appropriate to define education in terms of years, given that these children have special needs.

I appeal to the Minister of State and his officials to consider this again before Report Stage and to consider the possibility of amending the legislation somehow or other, whether in the definition or with the insertion of a new section, changing the word "student" or extending the age beyond 18 years. I understand there are legal issues to be addressed. I wish to put on record that the Bill as it stands is fundamentally flawed in that it does not address the special needs of children. If it is passed as it stands, we will have done a disservice to children who have special needs. While I will not vote against the section, if the Government is not in a position to deal with the issue on Report Stage, which I believe is scheduled for Thursday this week, I will find it very difficult to allow the legislation pass without making that point and doing something which I would very much regret having to do. I am pleading with the Minister of State that between now and Report Stage, he considers making it very clear in this House how the Government will deal with the situation.

I have specific questions which require specific answers. A child with special needs may start school at six and a half or seven years of age because he or she is not ready for junior infants until that age. During their schooling, the child may miss school for a year or two due to illness, such as a congenital heart disease. By the time the child reaches second year in secondary school, they may already be 17 years of age. The Minister of State's officials will say it can be seen whether the goals in the education plan have been achieved. We are then pushing the responsibility away from the Department of Education and Science to the Department of Health and Children. We are saying to the parents of the child that they must now refer to different legislation, the disability Bill or whatever, which the House has not seen yet, and have the child's rights provided for by the Department of Health and Children.

The difficulty is that when tighter economic circumstances arise and a Minister for Finance tells Ministers they must all keep their budgets within allocations, the Minister for Health and Children will not provide for the education of a person aged 19, 20 or 21 years with special needs if he or she does not have a legal right to education.

There is no reason we cannot provide statutory rights greater than constitutional rights. The Constitution of which we are so proud is a statement of rights on which we can build. I appeal to the Minister of State to examine the Bill before Report Stage to find a way to address this issue and allow the Houses to pass it in a form that is right and proper for all children.