A Supreme Court judge has held that the constitutional obligation to provide free primary education applies to children and does not create an open-ended right extending throughout adult life.
Mr Justice Hardiman gave the judgment in appeals arising from proceedings brought by Jamie Sinnott, through his mother Kathryn Sinnott, and separately by Mrs Sinnott against the Minister for Education, Ireland and the Attorney General.
The State had conceded that Jamie Sinnott's right to free primary education as a child had been breached for significant periods. The High Court had awarded damages and made mandatory orders prescribing a detailed programme of education and related services into the future.
The appeal before Hardiman J concerned narrower questions. The first was whether Article 42.4 entitled Sinnott to lifelong free primary education because his profound disability meant he continued to need basic education and training as an adult.
Hardiman J rejected that interpretation. Reading Article 42 as a whole, he found that its references to parents, family and children showed that the constitutional obligation to provide free primary education was directed to children rather than citizens of every age. He considered 18 the latest age at which a person could realistically be regarded as a child for this purpose.
The second issue concerned the High Court's detailed mandatory orders. Hardiman J expressed grave reservations about courts determining the precise services, staffing, therapies and expenditure to be provided by the State. He said decisions involving allocation of public resources and detailed social policy ordinarily belong to the legislature and executive under the constitutional separation of powers.
He noted that later education legislation might provide other avenues for people with disabilities, but those statutory provisions had deliberately not been relied upon in Sinnott's case.
Hardiman J agreed that the High Court could not retain jurisdiction after final judgment. He would preserve the damages award, which the State had undertaken to pay, while otherwise allowing the appeal and varying the declaratory order.