Liam Fitzgerald (Fianna Fail)

I thank the Ministers of State, Deputies de Valera and Brian Lenihan, who have piloted the Bill through the House. I join with my colleagues in complimenting them for their attention to the detail of the debate. More important, they have responded meaningfully and holistically to the many views expressed. I also thank the officials in the Department of Education and Science for their commitment to the Ministers of State and to the House.

I have sometimes been accused of being over the top in my use of words, but I believe history has been made here today. The Bill firmly establishes a fundamental milestone in the development of the provision of special education for our children and signposts a far deeper enlightenment about those needs than ever before. All of us have seen many Bills in the areas of education and health pass through the House but this Bill makes history because it is revolutionary, which word I assert the right to use. It is revolutionary because it is unprecedented.

On many occasions Members of the Oireachtas have to the best of their abilities sought to articulate, assert, defend and vindicate the rights of those who have been educationally disadvantaged and left on the margins. The manner in which those rights are being vindicated in this Bill is far stronger than before. The hiatus in this area has been allowed to drift for various reasons but is addressed firmly by this Bill through a comprehensive framework, which establishes this moment in the history of education policy as being quite significant. Moreover, much good can come of it.

I warmly embrace the sentiments expressed on both sides of the House on how we deliver the state-of-the-art service at the coalface, which is inherent in the Bill. We can only do this with state-of-the-art professionals who must be trained to an international standard of expertise, all of which I fully endorse.

When we were growing up and going to school and subsequently as teachers, we were told that education is a continuum. More recently, we have been told that education is about life-long learning. We were also told growing up that education was for life. However, John Dewey in St. Patick's College in Drumcondra said that education is life itself. Never was that truer than in the case of what this Bill seeks to articulate and establish by vindicating and implementing the rights of every child.

In the Leader's absence, I told the House that in 1985 or 1986 she had asked me to prepare a paper on special needs education, the terms of reference of which were to prepare a policy which, when we were back in Government, would seek to maximise the potential of every individual child. To this end, I employed the services of Éamon Ó Murchú, whom I regarded then as the national expert on special education in Ireland. With no disrespect to the officials present, he was far ahead of anyone in the Department of Education at the time in terms of expertise, academic qualifications and so on. The core of our report to the then Deputy O'Rourke was a proposal for the establishment of the national council for special education as well as one in respect of remedial education.

The then Deputy O'Rourke set out to ensure that if the proposal was put in place, it would secure the maximisation of the potential of every pupil in the State. Unfortunately, more austere times took over which prevented the full implementation of the plan. Nonetheless, I commend the Leader for the many initiatives she brought forward, even in those austere times. Just as education is a continuum, so there is that continuum here today.