A group of parents of severely mentally handicapped children yesterday vowed to fight the Education Bill (1997), claiming it discriminates against their children by restricting their access to free primary schooling.
According to Ms Marie O'Donoghue of the Association for the Severely and Profoundly Mentally Handicapped, the new Bill fails to take proper account of a Supreme Court decision in favour of these handicapped children.
"The Supreme Court upheld a High Court case that under Article 42 of the Constitution all children - not just those the Department deems educable - are entitled to free primary education. It excluded no one," said Ms O'Donoghue.
"But this Bill fixes all sorts of conditions on access to primary education for severely and profoundly mentally handicapped children. It makes it dependent on things like ministerial discretion and availability of resources," she said.
Ms O'Donoghue said that currently only 460 to 480 of the estimated 3,000 severely and profoundly mentally handicapped children in the State were actually receiving free primary education. The new Bill would do nothing for the remainder, she said.