Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)

The special needs assistants are assigned to individual children based on serious medical or physical need. They are not in any way affected by this model. Equally, children in the lower incident disability categories will, of course, continue to be allocated resources on the basis of their individual needs. It became evident to me that the particular model allocated last year would give rise to difficulties for the small schools and rural schools if implemented as originally proposed. I discussed this with a number of people including principals, teachers and parents who were worried about the particular model which was announced. We also got the views of the National Council for Special Education. The work of the special needs organisers obviously fed into this as well. For those reasons I had the proposed model reviewed and I hope to be in a position shortly to inform schools because I am conscious they need to know. This will ensure they will have resources in place as children need them rather than having to wait for the cost and the time of psychological assessments.

In addition to the changes made in the delivery of resources to date, the Education for Persons with Special Educational Needs Act 2004 provides a map to the future development of special educational needs services. The Act reflects the Government's commitment to putting in place a strategy to address the needs of people with disabilities. It will begin in steps over the next few years, in accordance with an implementation plan to be drafted by the National Council for Special Education. This Act governs the provision of education services for children and sets out the overall policy approach of the Department as regards the provision of services to children with special needs arising from a disability. It also allows for the provision of such services on the basis of assessed need and, in so far as is appropriate, in an inclusive setting.

One of the principles underpinning the Act is that parents must have a right to be consulted and fully informed at every stage of the process. If they feel their views are not being full recognised, or where they feel the plan is not being implemented effectively, they have a right to appeal any decisions concerning their children and these matters to an independent review board. The board will have the power to compel bodies, including health boards to take specific actions to address matters before it. However, nothing in the Act will restrict the right of recourse to the courts. Rather, it will simplify the process of enforcing the right to an appropriate education through the appeals board and the introduction of a mediation process prior to full scale litigation if the parents remains dissatisfied with the board's findings.

The Act provides for the co-ordination of services between health and education sectors as well as providing for the council in primary legislation. There is an onus on the Ministers for Finance, Health and Children and Education and Science to ensure adequate resources are provided for the delivery of services. In particular, the Minister for Finance is obliged to have due regard to the State's duty to provide for an education appropriate to the needs of every child under the Constitution and the necessity to provide equity of treatment to all children.

My Department and the Department of Education in Northern Ireland are jointly engaged in the development of the Middletown Centre for Autism in County Armagh. Both Departments have jointly funded the purchase of the former St. Joseph's Adolescent Centre, Middletown, and plan to refurbish the property to meet the needs of a centre of excellence for children and young people with autism throughout the island of Ireland. The centre will be dedicated to improving and enriching the educational opportunities of children and young people with autistic spectrum disorders. The four key services to be provided by the centre will be a learning support service on a residential basis, an educational assessment service, a training and advisory service, and an autism research and information service.

Several working groups are continuing to address the legal, financial, organisational and infrastructural aspects of the proposal. Work is continuing on the development of a campus masterplan for the Middletown property which, when complete, will guide the commissioning of any necessary infrastructure and refurbishment works. The process of recruiting a chief executive officer to operate the centre is also being formulated. It is anticipated the centre will be operational by autumn 2006.

Significant improvements have been made in recent years on pupil-teacher ratios in our schools and class sizes at primary level. The Opposition pointed to the commitment to reduce the pupil-teacher ratio in the programme for Government, which has been achieved. Over 4,000 additional teachers——