Catherine Murphy (Kildare North, Independent)
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Question 503: To ask the Minister for Education and Science the sections of the Education for Persons with Special Educational Needs Act 2004 that have been commenced to date; the sections that are outstanding; when she intends all provisions of the Act will be implemented; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [12275/06]

Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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The Education for Persons with Special Educational Needs Act was enacted in July 2004. On 14 July 2005, sections 1, 2, 14(1)(a), 14(1)(c), 14(2) to 14(4), 19 to 37, 40 to 44 and 50 to 53 of the Act were commenced. Separate establishment day orders were made in respect of the National Council for Special Education and the Special Education Appeals Board, setting their establishment dates as 1 October 2005 and 3 April 2006 respectively. A further commencement order was signed to commence sections 45 to 49 with effect from 1 October 2005 abolishing the council established under section 54 of the Education Act 1998 and replacing it with the council established under the 2004 Act. These sections could not come into effect prior to the establishment of the new council under section 19 of the 2004 Act.

The remaining sections — 3 to 13, 14(1)(b), 14(1)(e), 14(1)(f), 15 to 18, 38 — relate mainly to the statutory assessment and education plan process for which the Act provides. These cannot come into effect without the council having an opportunity to present an implementation report to the Minister which it must do before 1 October 2006. On 21 October 2005, the National Council for Special Education published a call for submissions in the national media on the implementation of the Act. The closing date for submissions was 13 January 2006. The council is now in the process of drawing up its implementation report which it will submit to my Department by 1 October 2006. That report will provide a costed timetable for the implementation of the various provisions of the Act over a five-year period.