Brian Lenihan Jnr (Dublin West, Fianna Fail)

The amendment reminds me somewhat of Article 45 of the Constitution and the directive principles of social policy. Those are laudable aspirations which no one would disagree with, but in terms of hard statutory draftsmanship, everything in the Senator's proposal is already contained in different parts of the Bill.

For example, there is an aspiration in the amendment that the Bill be rights-based, but all the matters addressed in the amendment are inherent in the Bill. The amendment appears to take the place of the Long Title, which would be a more appropriate place to deal with the general objectives of the legislation. The Bill already refers to the desirability of conforming with best international practice. The Minister for Education and Science will be under a duty to conform with and promote best practice and he or she will be advised on that by the National Council for Special Education. Those roles would be confused by the amendment, which could be unenforceable. Again, the aspiration to equality is stated in section 13, where it has far greater effect. The Bill already requires the Ministers for Education and Science, Health and Children and Finance to make resources available for the implementation of the Bill's provisions. Senator Burke may have a separate argument on that section — he has already outlined his views on that provision and he may revisit this issue. We must be conscious of the need to ensure that children with special educational needs have the same right to avail of education as their peers without special needs. That clear statement is already made in the Bill and meets the aim of paragraph (b), as set out by Senator Tuffy.

Paragraph (c) refers to inclusive education and again, under the existing term, section 2 is a very practical and enforceable statement of the child's rights under the Bill. The proposed amendment could not add to that and similar considerations apply to paragraphs (d), (e), (f) and (g). While I do not want to dissent from the sentiments contained in section 2, objectives of that type — "sentiment" may be somewhat patronising — should be contained in the Long Title or set out with greater specificity in the individual provisions of the Bill.