Bertie and Mary on separate flight paths as Willie fastens his belt

THE future of the national airline seems to be on automatic pilot, and to judge from the confusion at cabinet level the Government, like Aer Lingus, seems to be going around in circles.

With the departure of Seamus Brennan as Minister for Transport to an area of a more social nature, one of the supporters of a management buy-out apparently was sidelined.

The airline’s chief executive Willie Walsh’s appetite for the same management buy-out was also diminished, and he informed the Department of Transport accordingly.

Unfortunately, nobody told the Taoiseach or, if they did, he decided it was a matter of no consequence when he addressed the question of the future of Aer Lingus in the Dáil this week: he did not even refer to it.

Oddly enough, Bertie Ahern must have had a visit from the Holy Ghost because although he was in ignorance of Willie Walsh’s decision, he declared that a management buy-out was inappropriate for Aer Lingus.

On second thoughts, maybe Willie Walsh had a visit from the Holy Ghost who told him that his plans to take over the airline were about to be consumed by tongues of fire.

Tánaiste Mary Harney, who should have more than enough to occupy her in her stated ambition to straighten out the Department of Health, doesn’t seem to be on the same radar screen as Bertie Ahern insofar as Aer Lingus is concerned. She is insisting that all options be kept open, despite his rejection of a management buy-out.

Former Aer Rianta chairman Noel Hanlon might be interested in the airline now that he has time on his hands, in a manner of speaking. Although with the whole Aer Lingus issue up in the air at the moment, he might be accused of ambulance-chasing. For the 1,300-plus airline workers to be let go, he could give them the time-honoured retirement present of a watch.

Cartier, of course.

The message from the new Minister for Education, Mary Hanafin, to parents of children with special educational needs is loud and clear. Don’t even think of taking the department to court unless you can afford legal costs of €1 million.

She’s hardly had time to sit down at her ministerial desk, but she has given a salutary lesson to those who seek fundamental rights for their children.

It is irrelevant that Mary Hanafin inherited the case of Richard Clare whose parents had resorted to law, claiming that the state had failed to provide early and appropriate education and therapies for him as a sufferer from Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). They lost.

Now they face an unreal sum in legal fees of €1m - and that’s just from the State. Unless they have friendly and understanding lawyers, the bill could be considerably higher from their High Court action.

Usually, the state does not pursue costs against people who take actions to provide services but are unsuccessful. Interestingly, a spokesman for the department said that in relation to the issue of costs they considered the matter on a case-by-case basis.

In relation to this case, the department got legal advice and given that the judgement was so strongly in its favour, the advice was to seek costs.

I didn’t realise there were degrees of loss in such cases. You either win or lose, but the Department of Education appears to have such a policy when deciding whether or not to pursue costs.

According to the department and the Chief State Solicitor’s Office, the state has spent at least e9 million fighting cases like that brought by Richard Clare’s parents, concerning the provision of services for people with disabilities.

That figure does not include the cost of settling cases before they saw the inside of a court.

In this particular instance, the state denied any breach of its obligations and argued that it had made considerable efforts to address the boy’s situation. Its efforts were even praised by Mr Justice Smyth who adjourned the question of costs for a week.

Now, whatever efforts the department made to warrant judicial approbation the fact is that Richard Clare was diagnosed with ADHD in 1999, when he was 13 years of age.

Medication, obviously, did not cure his condition. After considerable difficulties in secondary school, including detentions and suspensions, he was eventually expelled in 2000, although he has since finished school and completed his Leaving Certificate.

I hope Mr Justice Smyth, when adjudicating on costs, will take into consideration the rather more humane attitude the Department of Education has taken in other similar cases.

In that regard, the department currently is no great help to the judge because lawyers for the state have already told the High Court they would be seeking costs against Richard Clare. Mary Hanafin should call off the legal bloodhounds because the Clares have had enough to worry them without the impossible task of paying €1 million in legal costs to the state, presuming they are not multi-millionaires.

There are many, many families who have children with special needs which the state is not meeting. Unfortunately, the Government has had a policy of forcing them to resort to law to try to have their rights enforced.

For some perverse reason - more than likely related to financial considerations - the Government has steadfastly refused to have those rights enshrined in law.

The recently announced Disability Bill, launched in the presence of the Taoiseach and about seven ministers, promises that no family will have to seek legal redress to have those rights extracted for them.

It’s still only a bill, and many of the bodies and organisations concerned with issues relating to people with disabilities have reservations about it.

That €9 million the department has spent in fighting such cases, not to mention the cost of settled cases, would have been far better spent on providing the essential services and facilities, rather than preventing people from getting them.

Then, of course, there was the money that wasn’t spent at all.

Along with the news that Finance Minister Brian Cowen will be able to loosen the purse strings in his first budget, because of a €1.6 billion bonanza, was the startling fact of a projected drop of €1 billion in Government spending so far this year.

So all those spanking new hospital units which were shamefully lying idle could have been opened months ago.

Or what about the extra 200,000 medical cards that were promised before the last general election and never delivered? Not alone were they not delivered, but there were 100,000 fewer issued than when the Government first came to power in 1997.

In fact, the number of medical cards is at the lowest ever since they were introduced 30 years ago.