Joe O'Toole (Independent)

Senator Corrigan is learning the rules of the game quickly. It was the best eight minutes I have ever heard. I welcome the Minister of State to the House.

I congratulate Fine Gael on tabling the motion. I have a reasonably balanced record in the House of giving credit where it is due but Senator Corrigan's criticism of Fine Gael for not acknowledging developments is misplaced. I said to the Fine Gael leader earlier that she was quite soft on the Government in the motion but I listened to her powerful contribution.

I would like to make a number of points, of which Senator Corrigan might take note. Apart from the Government's amendment being bad and embarrassing, it is factually incorrect. For example, it is not true that the ESSEN Act is being implemented on a phased basis in line with the five-year timeframe envisaged. That is not happening. The legislation was passed having been supported by all Members in both Houses as the way forward. The background to it was that ordinary people found themselves going to the highest courts in the land to gain the right to education for their children. As soon as their cases reached the higher courts, the Government either crumbled or lodged an appeal to the Supreme Court. It was wrong whichever way it went and this legislation resulted.

It is simple and it means where a child is considered by school authorities as requiring special needs, they ask for an assessment. The assessment is conducted by a NEPS psychologist following which resources are put in place. At every stage, provision is made for appeals by parents, schools and a number of other bodies. Everything is belt and braces and it is superb legislation. It is so good that I travelled to teacher centres around the country and proposed to teachers that they should not worry about the legislation and they should support it because it would be a positive development. It was positive but the Government has walked away from it. The amendment is offensive because the body charged with implementing the legislation is the NCSE. Are the drafters of the amendment pleased about their reference to the council in the two and a half pages of text? There is no mention of it because it would be an embarrassment.

When the Minister for Education and Science passed the legislation, she forwarded it to the NCSE saying she wanted it implemented in a five-year timeframe. We all agreed that was reasonable, even though we all wanted it implemented the next day. The NCSE produced a superb, professional report outlining 42 actions relating to the implementation of the legislation. The report reflected the views of every group involved in special education, including parents, management, school boards, teachers and other professionals. The actions are listed in one column and there are columns relating to who is responsible for each action when it should be implemented. The next section of the report outlines the financial resources needed for each action. Everything was done and this was presented to the Government in the autumn of 2006. The programme was to begin in December 2006.

The first item was to do with research so I cannot tell whether it happened or not. The second item was to commence section 5(5) to establish a standards body. This was supposed to have happened in December 2006. To add to the irony and the offence of it, the fifth action is to appoint the members of an appeals board, which has been done. The appeals board is for people appealing against the outcomes of assessments. However, the assessments can only take place on the basis of what is determined by the standards body which has not been established. The appeals board has no work whatsoever to do.

As a psychologist, Senator Corrigan can explain to us how this works. At present, psychologists have various methods of psychological assessment. The role of the standards body is to put together the basis, formula, method and template for a psychological assessment which can then be accepted into the system within the Department by which it can determine structures, resources, needs and supports which will come from it. This has not been done. The Act has not got progressed from the first step. Extra NEPS psychologists have been appointed but they are nowhere near the numbers required. I acknowledge this has been done.

I probably know more about this Act than anybody else in the House. I do not state this from a position of arrogance. I have gone through it many times. I spoke about this in Navan, Sligo, Monaghan, Wexford, Carlow and on several occasions in Dublin. I met teachers everywhere who had grave doubts about it. I stated it is the way forward. I told them it is my utopian approach to how we should deal with special educational needs. The Government put it together and everybody welcomed it. It has not happened and it is a disgrace. It is a further disgrace that the impending amendment to the Act does not mention how it will be implemented.

This is how it is supposed to work. A school, parent, or the National Council for Special Education comes to the conclusion that a child has special educational needs. When the school confirms this, a NEPS psychologist comes in and does an assessment. This assessment can be done only on the template and reference points decided by the standards body which has not been established.

Following this, the resources for dealing with the child in the school are put together and the support levels are decided. These might be at school level or other people may be brought in. The school has to put together a directed ad hoc educational plan for the child for the year. During the course of the year it is reviewed twice. At the end of the year, if the school principal and or the class teacher feels that despite everyone's best efforts it is not working, it goes back to the National Council for Special Education and the plan is changed or improved, resources are added or something is taken from it and perhaps the child is moved to another school. I have rushed through the description of the process.

Each step is open to appeal by parents. Parents such as those we discussed here who went to the High Court, such as the family from Wicklow or the Supreme Court, such as the family from Cork, would not have needed to do so because they would have been involved from point one. They could have made their case to the school, the National Council for Special Education or one of the appeals bodies attaching to the council. At least they would have been recognised all the way through. By the time it reached a court, a judge could state that in all reasonableness, it had gone through the system, the professionals had done their very best, everything had been done according to plan and everybody must live with it. Instead, parents are fighting and shouting.

Today, a group from a special post-primary school Dundalk was outside the gates of Leinster House. The school deals with children with mild mental handicaps, rather than use any politically correct language. They wanted their children to learn domestic science and other practical subjects. They were seeking extra hours. Where have we reached as a society? Perhaps they cannot do Latin or geometry. However, these children can learn a great deal. We can give them skills and help and support them. Parents are outside our gate 12 years into the Celtic tiger looking for a couple of extra hours of support a week.

It is not mealy-mouthed of Fine Gael to table this motion tonight. It not a lack of acknowledgement of what is happening. Fine Gael and other parties gave a great welcome to this Act. We are appalled that we have seen nothing happen with regard to its implementation since the day it was passed.