Exclusion of blind student from Summer Provision Scheme constituted disability discrimination, WRC finds

30 September 2024

The secondary school student (who was represented by FLAC) made discrimination complaints to the Workplace Relations Commission about his exclusion from the Summer Provision Scheme in 2020, and the failure to provide him with additional supports during Covid-19 school closures.
The WRC upheld his complaint about the Summer Provision Scheme and ordered the Department of Education to pay him €5,000 in compensation.
The WRC also held that the student was not provided with reasonable accommodations to support his education during school closures.

FLAC (Free Legal Advice Centres) has welcomed today’s decision of the Workplace Relations Commission on complaints under the Equal Status Acts taken by a secondary school student (who was represented by FLAC) against the Minister for Education.

The Summer Provision Scheme is an administrative programme where students with additional needs may access educational supports during the summer holidays; it was previously known as the July Provision Scheme.

At the hearing of the case in November 2023, the student gave evidence of “[losing] 11 or 12 weeks of school between March and November 2020” (beginning when he was in his third year of secondary school) and noted that “once you fall behind, it’s very difficult to catch up”. This causes significant difficulty for him in his progression to third level education. He is now studying law at university.

FLAC Managing Solicitor, Sinéad Lucey commented:

“The decision of the WRC in this case is a testament to the bravery and resilience of our client and his mother and advocate, Eithne Walsh. It also includes a number of important legal findings.

The Minister argued that the WRC could not hear complaints about Government policy decisions or the allocation of resources. These objections were rejected by the WRC Adjudicator. The WRC’s ruling firmly establishes that a public body cannot rely on a claim that its actions involve decisions on spending public funds to justify a form of discrimination.

The recent expansion of the Summer Provision Scheme to include blind secondary school students is welcome. We hope that a proper application of anti-discrimination law and the Public Sector Equality and Human Rights Duty will inform all future policy developments in this area.”

Eithne Walsh, the complainant’s mother and Disability Rights Activist, commented:

“The negative impact on my son’s education during 2020 was avoidable and the way he was treated was discriminatory. This decision is an extremely important recognition of his rights, and the rights of all students with disabilities to equality in education. We hope that the WRC’s ruling will bring about improvements in access to additional supports for people with disabilities in education.

We are grateful to FLAC and to James Kane BL for their support.”

ENDS

Notes to Editors:

FLAC (Free Legal Advice Centres) is an independent human rights and equality organisation, which exists to promote access to justice. As an Independent Law Centre, FLAC takes on a number of cases in the public interest each year and operates a Traveller Legal Service, Roma Legal Clinic and LGBTQI Legal Service. FLAC also operates a legal information and referral telephone line and a nationwide network of legal advice clinics where volunteer lawyers provide basic free legal advice.

The WRC’s decision [ADJ-00031320] may be accessed here:

https://www.workplacerelations.ie/en/cases/2024/september/adj-00031320.html