John Minihan (Progressive Democrats)

We can go through some of the points made and debate them. I would like to speak about some of the points raised. Nobody would disagree with the Government in regard to its strategic decision vis-À-vis investing in special needs and disadvantage. Nobody would disagree with how our society has changed so dramatically in the past ten years with the multicultural society and the strains that puts on our educational system. Those challenges had to be met and responded to.

Senator O'Toole raised the issue of the pupil-teacher ratio. We must address this issue. As Senator Quinn said, we need substantial investment in education and a major increase in the budget allocation for education. We need a front-loaded major adjustment in Government spending to cater for our educational needs. It is not good enough to speak about a knowledge-based economy and a well educated workforce unless the resources are put in place locally. Having addressed the changes in society and the integration of special needs in recent years, the time is ripe for that to be done. I welcome the commitments given in the national development plan but I would like more front-line investment in the annual budget.

With regard to the pupil-teacher ratio, we can argue figures upside down and inside out. However, we must also be conscious of the changing structures in schools where non-teaching principals and language resource teachers are included in the numbers. The time has come for us to look at the actual teacher in the classroom with the actual class, assisted by the other professionals who are in a supportive role. We must be real about how we do that. I welcome the appointment of 800 new teachers in September, 500 of whom will be for mainstream classes and 300 for language tuition and so on.

I wish to raise the issue of special needs education. The reason I raise this is because I have called for a debate on the area of special needs education and I am not sure if there will be time for that debate. Therefore, I will piggyback on the Fine Gael motion and use my time to address the points I would like to address in the debate.

I fully acknowledge and support the work we have done but I have genuine concerns. These arise having looked at the issue internationally and the methodology used in other countries. Are we doing it right? I do not want to come back in 20 years' time and say we got it wrong. One of the problems in this area — one has to be careful how one says this — is that the special education we give to children with special needs must be focused on the best interests of the child, not necessarily on what the parents want. That is a politically dangerous statement to make but in some cases I fear parents are so concerned with having their children in mainstream schooling that it may not necessarily be in the best interests of the child. Whatever assessment process is put in place, and I am not playing politics here, we must ensure that what is suitable for the child is in the child's interest.

In that regard I am concerned about the international research on which the Department bases its approach to special needs. We have the inclusion and eclectic intervention approach. I am genuinely concerned about that because in the US, Canada and the UK there is a move away from that type of intervention and yet we are staying with that system.

We began to address the special needs area 20 years behind the international norm. That norm has moved on but we seem to be starting where they were 20 years ago. In regard to children with autism or those on the autistic spectrum disorder, there are 12 applied behavioural analysis, ABA, pilot projects ongoing for the past seven years. How long is a project a pilot project? When does it become a permanent project? My understanding of any pilot project in anything is that there would be a timeframe and an evaluation, at the end of which one would decide whether to progress with it, abandon it or adjust it. I would like to know from the Department of Education and Science when we will see an evaluation of those pilot projects. Some 12 applications have been made for further ABA initiatives but they are not being considered. I want to know why they are not being considered.

The Department has said that the model it is using is the correct one but on what research is it based? What comparatives in Europe are on the international stage? I do not condemn in any way the approach we have had to special needs. All I am saying is that we should look at international surveys, evaluations and expertise and get it right. We have a golden opportunity so let us not go down a road only for us to have to reverse back in 20 years' time.