The Minister for Education has been criticised for an apparent u-turn on the awarding of damages to the mother of a 23-year-old autistic man. Last October, in a landmark judgement, the High Court awarded Jamie Sinnott, and his mother Kathy more than a quarter of a million pounds after finding that the State had failed to provide Jamie with a primary education. The decision was appealed by the Government to the Supreme Court, but in what was seen as a major concession the Chief State Solicitor's office wrote to the Sinnott's legal team to say that the Minister would pay all the damages awarded by the High Court.
However, yesterday in the Supreme Court the State said that it would fight the award of £55,000 made to Mrs Sinnott. The Association for the severely and profoundly handicapped have described the decision as disgraceful. Its spokesperson Marie O'Donoghue said that the decision highlight's the Minister's disregard for the Sinnott family and all special needs children.
This evening a spokesperson for the Department of Education denied that the Minister had made a u-turn. She said that he had made his position clear on the awarding of damages clear in a statement on 8 March but said that the Department was unable to explain the discrepancy between this and the letter from the Chief State Solicitor's office.
