Vol. 497 No. 3
182 Mr. R. Bruton asked the Minister for Education and Science the number of legal proceedings pending where his Department is defending cases in pursuit of appropriate education services for a person; the date in each case when proceedings were initiated; and the number of cases where he has decided to withdraw the State's defence and discontinue the contesting of the case since he took office. [25286/98]
193 Mr. O'Shea asked the Minister for Education and Science the number of actions against his Department before the various courts on behalf of children with physical, sensory or intellectual disability seeking an appropriate education; the date each case was initiated; the number of these actions he will contest; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [25072/98]
I propose to take Questions Nos. 182 and 193 together.
There are currently 69 sets of legal proceedings involving children seeking appropriate education services where I, as Minister for Education and Science, am one of the named respondents. Some 48 of these cases relate to children with disabilities.
These cases have been initiated at various points over a number of years and are currently at various stages in the legal process.
The most important issue in these proceedings is to ensure that the needs of the children concerned are met. My Department makes all reasonable efforts to resolve these cases to the satisfaction of the courts, in consultation with parents, school authorities and other appropriate agencies.
Some of the cases will have effectively lapsed due to the failure of the plaintiffs to proceed with them. In some such instances this will be because satisfactory provision has been put in place for the children in question.
My recent announcement concerning children with special needs will remove the cause of many of these cases, particularly concerning education services for children with autism.
