Rose Conway-Walsh (Mayo, Sinn Fein)
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113. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the status of the implementation of the EPSEN report; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [25051/21]

Josepha Madigan (Dublin Rathdown, Fine Gael)
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I can advise that a number of sections of the EPSEN Act 2004 have been commenced. The commenced provisions include those establishing the National Council for Special Education (NCSE) and those providing for an inclusive approach to the education of children with special educational needs.

The following sections of the EPSEN Act were commenced in 2005.

Section 1 – InterpretationSection 2 - providing for the inclusive education of children with Special Educational Needs; Section 14 – placing certain duties on schools; Sections 19 to 37 - placing the Council on a statutory footing; Section 39 - placing certain duties on Health Boards; Sections 40 to 53 - amending the Education Act; Schedule 1 – providing for meetings and membership of the Council; Schedule 2 providing for the Chief Executive Officer of the Council.

The remaining sections of the Act have yet to be commenced. The Sections of the EPSEN Act which have not been implemented are those which would have conferred a statutory entitlement to an educational assessment for all children with special educational needs; consequent development of a statutory individual educational plan (IEP); the delivery of detailed educational services on foot of this plan; an independent appeals process.

Since EPSEN was enacted, the Department’s policy on supporting children with special educational needs has changed and evolved on foot of evidence based policy advice from the NCSE which takes account of international perspectives. Significantly, the focus of special needs education provision has changed from a model that is diagnosis led to one which is driven by the needs of the child. This is a substantially different view to the one underlying the EPSEN Act. The levels of investment by Government in special education has increased to facilitate the underlying reforms required to implement and embed the needs based approach.

Since my appointment as the first Minister for Special Education and Inclusion I have indicated that one of my key priorities is the reviewing and updating the Education for Persons with Special Educational Needs (EPSEN) Act.

A review of the Act will also take into account the extent of additional investment which has been made in special educational services since 2004, with some €2 Billion per year now being spent of special educational supports.

It will also take into account the range of reforms which have taken place in recent years including the development of new allocation models which are not based primarily on a response to assessment as policy advice has indicated that requirement of diagnosis can create a risk of children being diagnosed as having a special educational need for resource allocation purposes, rather than for health reasons. Also, that as there is a spectrum of ability and disability within every special education disability category, account must be taken of need, as well as diagnosis.