Gino Kenny (Dublin Mid West, People Before Profit Alliance)
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69. To ask the Minister for Health if he will expedite special education assessments, in the view of the National Disability Authority and the Disability Act 2005, due to the failure to commence sections of the Education for Persons with Special Educational Needs Act 2004; the action he is taking in his dealings with the Department of Education and Skills and others to address this; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [37967/16]

Finian McGrath (Dublin Bay North, Independent)
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Policy responsibility for special education and for the EPSEN Act resides with my colleague the Minister for Education and Skills. My Department works closely with that Department and the Department of Children and Youth Affairs on a range of issues relating to children with a disability via a Cross-Sectoral team, which meets regularly.

I am informed by the Minister for Education that a number of sections of the Education for Persons with Special Educational Needs (EPSEN) Act 2004 have been commenced, including those establishing the National Council for Special Education (NCSE) and those promoting an inclusive approach to the education of children.

The remaining sections of the Act have yet to be commenced. Legal advice provided to the Department of Education and Skills indicates that the EPSEN Act, as it is currently constituted, may not be implemented on a phased, or age cohort, basis.

While awaiting the full implementation of the EPSEN Act, the NCSE has published a number of policy advice papers which make recommendations aimed at developing a better or more effective alternative to the current resource allocation model, and which aims to move the system towards ultimate implementation of the EPSEN Act.

The NCSE identified that the current model for allocating resource teachers to schools is potentially inequitable, because access to the range of professional assessments required for the diagnosis of low incident disabilities is not always readily available to those who cannot afford to access them privately. The NCSE has also advised that the current model can lead to unnecessary labelling of children from a young age.

The NCSE has proposed a new resource teaching allocation model which will, when introduced, remove the formal requirement for diagnostic assessment to access additional support and which will provide resources to schools based on school profiles.

In addition the Department of Education and Skills National Educational Psychological Service (NEPS) provides educational psychology service to all primary and post primary schools through an assigned NEPS psychologist and in some cases through the Scheme for Commissioning Psychological Assessments (SCPA), full details of which are on the Department's website. Under this scheme schools can have an assessment carried out by a member of the panel of private psychologists approved by NEPS, and NEPS will pay the psychologist the fees for this assessment directly.