The Government will set up a State body to establish the education needs of children with disabilities, the Minister for Education, Mr Dempsey, said yesterday.
While stating that parents would have a central role in all important decisions concerning the education of their children, Mr Dempsey said a new National Council for Special Education would have the power to designate a school or centre that a child would attend.
He said the membership of the council would include individuals with a special interest in the education of children with disabilities, and people with disabilities.
The measure is contained in the Education for Persons with Disabilities Bill, which was published yesterday. The Bill is the Government's response to the cases of Mr Jamie Sinnott and Paul O'Donoghue, whose parents went to the courts to vindicate their right to an education.
With some 55,000 in the State requiring special needs education, Mr Dempsey acknowledged yesterday that "much still needed to be done".
However, he hoped the legislation would provide the structures needed to uphold the constitutional right to an education.
While the Irish National Teachers Organisation welcomed the Bill, it said it had serious concerns about areas of responsibility and additional workload required of teachers.
There was no immediate response last night from the Disability Legislation Consultation Group.
Its chairwoman, Ms Angela Kerins, said she had not had an opportunity to study the legislation in detail, but welcomed suggestions from Mr Dempsey that he would consult with interest groups during the Bill's passage through the Dáil.
Mr Dempsey said the structures could take five years to establish fully. He planned to start the Bill's passage through the Dáil in the autumn.
Asked whether he could guarantee that money would not be diverted away from other education programmes to fund the initiative, he said:
"I can't honestly say to you that it's not going to affect other elements of the education system next year."
With the Bill imposing a statutory duty on the Minister to make special resources available to schools, he said he did not believe there would be a significant extra draw on the education budget.
The Bill aims to separate services for children with learning difficulty from those for children with learning disabilities.
Children with an assessed educational disability will have a goal-driven individual education plan.
The National Council for Special Education will be charged with making assessments of children of school-going age while health boards will have responsibility for those of pre-school age.
The Bill says: "A concern of many parents is that, since assessments are often carried out by the agency which will provide the services needed, assessments will lack independence.
"In order to overcome this concern and ensure quality of assessments, the Bill provides that they have to comply with standards set down by the Minister for Health and Children or a body appointed by the Minister."
The Fine Gael education spokeswoman, Ms Olwyn Enright, welcomed the Bill, but called on Mr Dempsey to outline how he intended to provide the resources required.
Also welcoming the Bill, the Labour spokeswoman, Ms Jan O'Sullivan, said there was an apparent lack of independence in the appeals system.
The Green spokesman, Mr Paul Gogarty, criticised Mr Dempsey for publishing the Bill when the Dáil was not in session.
