Brian Lenihan Jnr (Dublin West, Fianna Fail)

Section 3 of the Bill has a purely school context. The Minister for Education and Science undertook in the Dáil to examine all the time limits set out in the Bill, which he did. In a number of instances, he reduced the timeframes involved or inserted timeframes where none had been provided. Such instances included requiring schools to begin the assessment process within one month and requiring the appeals board to hear appeals against a failure to assess within six weeks and deal with disputes between the council and the health board within two months. The Minister reviewed the time limit in question in the Dáil and considered it as part of his review. Having re-examined the provision, the Minister took the view that an outer limit of less than three months is an unrealistic target to set for all assessments.

I appeal to the Senator on the basis of — in the words of the Constitution — his practical knowledge and experience of the education profession. Many assessments require the services of a number of specialists and the principal or teacher is not on his or her own in this particular context. For that reason, the Minister decided to set the limit at not less than three months.