Joe O'Toole (Independent)

It is about strategy and getting a result. That is what should be done.

Much has been said about SENOs that I would like to go into. They are not the ones who do the assessments and there are problems arising from the involvement of SENOs in many cases. I spoke on every section of the Education for People with Special Educational Needs Act and dealt with every part of it. When it was passed, I went around the country, at my own expense, to discuss and explain it. It is a serious disappointment that it has not been moved on to the extent it should.

I am, however, a practical man and I recognise there are financial problems. We should come out straight and admit the money does not exist to fulfil the implementation and commencement of the sections of that Act as we would all want but we should also assign a budget so we can sit down and identify the priorities. There was mention of some priorities in the Government amendment. That would be a helpful process. Those of us who have been raising this issue would like to see it happen.

When the Education for People with Special Educational Needs Act was going through, I had been dealing with special educational needs for 40 years, working at it from all sides. If the Minister had asked 20 years ago for a paper outlining what I wanted to see in special education provision, the Act would cover it, that is how good it is written. The problem, however, is that unfortunately it is not operational. The Minister should recognise that. Although we all fought for rights-based education needs, and although it is correct to say the Act is not rights-based, it is as close as makes no different to that. A child might have a problem that is found by a teacher or parents. The child is then, through the school principal, sent for assessment. As written in the Act, the assessment must come back within a certain timeframe.

What is equally good about the Act, in the context of the way it is written, is the way in which the terms of the assessment are set out. There are major difficulties in this regard. People want to know what is being assessed and what should be the nature of the response of the assessor and the educational psychologist. All of this is supposed to be determined but it has not yet proved to be the case. Therefore, the process falls down at the first hurdle.

Every aspect of the EPSEN Act is subject to appeal. Parents can appeal against the assessment or state they do not want their children to be assessed in the first instance. Teachers and principals are also in a position to do the same. There are all sorts of appeal structures built into the Act, which is extremely democratic in that regard.

Following the assessment, the needs of the child are outlined in an independent educational plan. The resources attaching to the plan and the way in which it should be delivered are then decided upon. The plan may be drawn up by the teacher, the principal or, on some rare occasions, the National Council for Special Education, NCSE. It is then put in place and assessed on a regular basis with the total co-operation and involvement of teaching staff. It may require the provision of an SNA in the classroom, etc. I will not discuss the detail in this regard because I do not have time to do so.

At the end of the year the final assessment of the plan is carried out, mainly by the class teacher. He or she will assess whether the child has made progress. The Government amendment refers to measurable progress in this regard. If the plan is not working, those involved with its implementation will recognise that fact and state there is a need for a new plan or the provision of a different set of resources. It will usually be stated the plan put together with the involvement of a certain teacher, an educational psychologist, the principal and a child's parents does not meet the needs of the child and that special support is required from the NCSE. That is how it works and it is a simple outline of how the system is meant to operate.

A decision is required in respect of every step of the process I have outlined. If a teacher, even one with X number of years' experience, is asked to produce an individual educational plan, he or she must receive some training in respect of the approach that needs to be taken, the issues that must be considered, how the plan should be put in place and the boxes which must be ticked. In such circumstances, there is a need to put a training programme in place.

The Minister's predecessor asked the NCSE to produce a report on the implementation of the EPSEN Act. It is a credit to the NCSE that it produced what I consider to the best report ever carried out on the implementation of a measure relating to education. The report contains 42 action points and lists the name of the body or person responsible for their implementation and the relevant date for completion of said implementation. We are way behind as regards implementation of the Act. I do not want to make political capital out of this; I merely want to progress the issue. The level of implementation is way behind because the necessary resources are not being invested. That is the case because there is a lack of resources within the State. I will not argue the point with the Minister in that regard. I will, however, do so on another occasion. The report also provides details of the costs involved with regard to implementation and outlines the amount of money that will be required.

I ask the Minister to recognise that the important parts of the Act have not been commenced. It will not be difficult for him to do so. I also request that he force us to recognise that he does not have access to the level of resources required. He should then indicate the resources that will be invested, outline how progress will be made and state the areas to which priority will be given. He can then state it is not possible to do more than this. When he does so, I will be the first to criticise him and argue that what is being provided is not enough. That is my job. It is his to provide a counter-argument. Ultimately, this will not drive us apart because we know the route we must take.

The NCSE's extraordinary report on implementation of the EPSEN Act outlines the way forward on a step-by-step, euro-by-euro, month-by-month basis. If parents were able to see the road ahead, it would be similar to what they can see in respect of schools building projects. Even though the resources might not be available, if they could be sure they will be provided next year, for example, they would be much calmer.

I ask the Minister to take on board some of the points I have made. I ask our fresh, new colleagues from the Green Party who are extremely interested in this issue to begin to exert pressure in respect of this matter. The Deputy from Lucan should again be let loose in respect of it. He and the Minister for Education and Science interact well with each other.