New legislation on special education will give parents of the disabled all the legal reassurance they require, the Minister for Education, Dr Woods, said yesterday.
The Minister made his commitment shortly after unveiling a new package of measures on special education.
As reported in yesterday's Irish Times, the package includes a new National Council for Special Education which will take day-to-day responsibility for the area, and new legal guarantees for parents.
The Irish Autism Alliance has given the initiative a cautious welcome. But Mr Cormac Rennick said the precise nature of guarantees to parents would have to be pinned down.
Ms Kathryn Sinnott said the Minister still had to prove he was serious about his commitment to disabled people and could only do that by increasing the number of places available to students who wanted to study relevant teaching methods and therapies in advance of CAO allocation of course places.
Ms Sinnott said of the assessment provision in the package that it would have to be independent of the service providers i.e. the State and in full collaboration with parents. She went on to say:
"Educational provisions within the legislation must be given as rights and cannot be subject to ministerial discretion or the availability of resources."
Ms Sinnott said she was also worried about the implications of the Minister using the word child since it meant under-18s and would not apply to over-18s with disabilities.
Dr Woods plans to introduce a Disabilities Bill in the autumn which will, he says, pave the way for enhanced measures for people with special educational needs across all Government departments. A Special Needs Education Forum, bringing together all interested groups, will be convened shortly to "help inform the drafting".
Other elements of the package include the appointment of 70 additional psychologists and funds to allow psychologists from the private sector to be recruited where needed; and an investigation by senior Departmental officials into the level of provision for disabled children at second level.
Dr Woods said the new legislation would "clarify absolutely the onus the Government has placed on itself" in relation to children with special educational needs.
Asked on RTE's Five-Seven Live whether the legislation would provide guarantees for people of all ages, he said the Government was determined to provide the most appropriate education on the basis of need only. "We will commit into legislation what the Government is already committed to."
The Education Act, he said, provided a measure of security but the new law would oblige all future governments to maintain a full commitment to special education.
On a practical basis, it appears the new legislation will give parents the right to get the level of education for their child which is deemed appropriate by experts in the area. Should this not be available, parents will be entitled to seek it through the courts.
The Government hopes the legislation will remove the need for any referendum on a constitutional amendment on special education. Dr Woods also supported a new appeals structure for parents if the education provision fell short.
Last night Fine Gael said the Government package was "too little and too late". Senator Helen Keogh said her party would press ahead with plans for a private members' Bill in the autumn to underpin the rights of children with special needs. It would enshrine in law the rights of disabled persons to services appropriate to their needs, by creating a commissioner to vindicate their rights.
Ms Jan O'Sullivan of Labour accused the Minister of placing some distance between distancing himself and from the new council. "The obligation will no longer be on the Minister but on the council. We must be careful about building an impenetrable wall between mainstream and special education."