Cuts in the number of special needs assistants in schools as a result of a Department of Education audit would be a further blow to children who already faced discrimination, an interest group said yesterday.
A national representative body for people with intellectual disability, namhi, said it feared the audit of special needs resources being undertaken by the Department would result in cuts of special needs assistants to children in primary and secondary schools.
"As a report by the Equality Authority highlighted yesterday, these children already face discrimination in schools because of their disability.
"This will be a further blow to their inclusion in the Irish education system," the group said in a statement.
The Department has said the audit was promoted by the belief that up to 30 per cent of special needs assistants in primary schoools may be in excess of requirements.
However, namhi said: "At a time when the provision of appropriate education to children with disability is inequitable and insufficient, the Department of Education should be seeking ways to better structure the system rather than doing audits to find ways of cutting back essential resources."
It was difficult to reconcile this audit with the proposals in the Education for Persons with Disability Bill 2003, which would entitle all children with disability to an assessment of their education needs and the allocation of resources to meet their needs, the group said.
This September, namhi heard from a number of families whose children with a disability were due to begin their primary education but were told they were not eligible for a special needs assistant.
For many, this decision meant the child could not commence schooling without this essential support, the statement said.
Meanwhile, the Labour Party spokeswoman on education, Ms Jan O'Sullivan, called for a full statement from the Minister for Education and Science, Mr Dempsey, on the proposed audit.
She suggested that the audit was merely a cover for cutbacks in the service which was already straining to meet the needs of pupils who needed special assistance at school.
There were currently 5,000 primary school children awaiting assessment of their applications and a further 5,000 secondary school children had not even received a response to their applications, she said.