State will pay family £40,000 in spite of ruling

The State will make a £40,000 ex-gratia payment to the mother of an autistic adult - even though the Supreme Court found yesterday that it did not have to pay her the general damages awarded by the High Court.

Fine Gael said the Government had won "a shallow and shameful victory' but it still must meet the needs of the disabled.

The Labour Party said the only answer was a change in the Constitution.

Last night the Minister for Education, Dr Woods, said the money - part of a £260,000 award to Mrs Kathryn Sinnott and her son, Mr Jamie Sinnott - could not have been paid before now.

If the £40,000 general damages award to her had been paid, the State could not have appealed the High Court's ruling that it had an obligation to provide primary education for everybody, regardless of their age or whether they were disabled.

Following the Supreme Court's ruling that the State has no such obligation to 23-yearold Mr Sinnott, Dr Woods offered reassurances to worried parents.

The Government will not draw back on plans to improve the care of autistic children and adults. "That is not going to happen," he said. "I have been given practically a blank cheque to better services."

In October 1998, after the Sinnott case had begun, the Cabinet had decided to spend tens of millions of pounds for more teachers and classes. "That was a formal decision. That is why I am able to do what I am doing," said Dr Woods.

Asked what will happen when the £225,000 awarded by the High Court for Mr Sinnott's education at home runs out, the Minister said: "At the end of that time we will have to wait and see where we are in terms of his educational development."

The High Court ruling had to be challenged because it meant that anybody, whether they were disabled or not, and regardless of age, could seek legal redress for inadequacies in their primary education.

In addition, Mr Justice Barr's original ruling had upset the separation of powers laid down in the Constitution between the Oireachtas and the judiciary. "This was a policy issue, not a constitutional one," he said.

"We did not know what our constitutional obligations were. We had to have clarity. We could not operate without it. We already had people claiming that they did not get a proper primary education," said the Minister.

"The Government fully accepts that it must fully and appropriately provide for the education and care of people with disabilities. The State also recognises that the provision in the past for such children was not adequate."

Dr Woods added: "I want to reassure people that we will go ahead urgently with the work that we are doing to provide unprecedented support for children with autism."

The Minister for Education also insisted that services for autistic adults are well above international standards.

Today, there are 80 special classes in primary schools for autistic children, up from six last year. Furthermore, the number of special classes has risen from 299 to nearly 2000.