Liam Fitzgerald (Fianna Fail)

I listened to Senator Ulick Burke very carefully on Committee Stage and understood that every reference made to individual education plans in the Bill concerns the preparation of a plan for an individual child, as I tried to articulate on Committee Stage. There is no ambiguity in this matter at any point in the Bill. The Bill brings all the relevant agencies and partners involved towards the centre but places at the core the individual child and his or her special educational needs.

Having said that, I believe Senator Ulick Burke detects that where there are two or three children in a school with special educational needs, there could be a tendency to lump them together when creating the education plan in the interests of expediency and saving resources, although I am sure teachers would not use the expression. In view of this, I understand the Senator's concern. Perhaps there is merit in his proposal to include the word "individual". I do not know how the Minister of State feels about the issue but it is genuine and legitimate and I ask her to re-examine it.