Jerry Cowley (Mayo, Independent)
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Question 348: To ask the Minister for Education and Science the amount the Government is spending on defending cases brought by relatives of autistic people on account of the Governments failure to provide adequate services for people with autism; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [22467/06]

Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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To date in 2006 my Department has spent a total of approximately €100,000 on legal costs and settlements associated with court cases relating to educational provision for children with special needs compared to a total of approximately €1.6 million in 2005, €5.7 million in 2004 and €4.4 million in 2003. The vast majority of the cases in question relate to children with autism. The Department of Education and Science is not complacent in dealing with these cases and it attempts, wherever possible, to reduce the potential for litigation and the levels of legal costs where litigation arises.

It is the case however that legal costs associated with such cases may take some time to be submitted and processed and it is possible that further costs will be incurred before the end of the year. I would add that these figures do not include the costs of the State's Legal defence which is borne by the Attorney General's office.

I wish to assure the Deputy that I am most anxious that all children, including children with autistic spectrum disorders, receive an education appropriate to their needs. It is in recognition of this that my Department currently provides the following facilities for the education of children with autism: 159 Special Classes for children with autism, attached to special and mainstream schools; 15 pre-school classes; 5 Special classes for children with Asperger's Syndrome; 12 Stand-Alone facilities providing an Applied Behavioural Analysis (ABA) specific methodology.

I can confirm that I will continue to prioritise the issue of special needs education and, in co-operation with the National Council for Special Education and the education partners, ensure that all children with special educational needs are adequately resourced to enable them to meet their full potential.