John Paul Phelan (Fine Gael)

This issue involves a child in Kilkenny with special educational needs. The situation was brought to my attention a little over a year ago by the principal of the school the child attends when the school was having difficulty securing resource hours from the Department of Education and Science for the child. The child cannot speak. Anybody will agree that this is a severe impairment for a child in infants class in a primary school.

After the principal contacted me, I took the usual parliamentary route for pursuing these queries. One of the mechanisms I adopted was putting down a parliamentary question, through Deputy Enright, in the other House. I was surprised, indeed shocked, that an official of the Department of Education and Science telephoned the principal of the school in question on the day before the parliamentary question was answered to tell the principal that the child was not eligible for resource hours.

Why was the school principal contacted on the day before the parliamentary question was answered to be told the resource hours were not applicable to the child? Why did the Department deny to me in formal correspondence any knowledge of this child's case yet when I made a freedom of information request the file on the child was discovered in the Department? Why did it take 19 months for the resource hours which were allocated to the child to be confirmed? This was only confirmed following the freedom of information request.

Does this type of occurrence happen regularly? Many children in this country have special educational needs. Are many of these children granted resource hours but not told about it by the Department for 19 months or longer? The school in question did everything by the book. It contracted a psychologist to assess the child two months before the child was due to start in the school. The psychologist spent two days assessing the child and sent the findings to the board of management. The board of management forwarded the assessment to the Department.

The Department said it would investigate the situation and that resource hours would be awarded within five or six weeks. However, the school's board of management had to pay for a special needs assistant for this child for almost two years out of its funds. Will the Department refund the board of management of this school for doing the Department's work in this case?

The case angers me greatly. I have been in politics for six years, in Kilkenny County Council and the Seanad, and I have never encountered such a case of neglect. The officials in the Department were attempting to pull the wool over my eyes and those of the school principal, the child concerned and the child's parents. Children are the most vulnerable members of society and a child with special educational needs is surely the most vulnerable of that group. I do not wish to get angry with the Minister of State because he is not directly responsible but the way this case has been handled by the Department of Education and Science leaves a great deal to be desired.

I hope the Minister of State has answers to my questions. The situation has certainly not been satisfactory to date.