Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)

The circular was issued last summer and will come into effect in September 2005. It was never the intention that the weighted system per se would be implemented prior to that date. In the interim, any applications received have been decided on the basis of needs. The idea behind the weighted system is that the staff member will be already assigned to a school or schools to pick up these needs without the need for individual applications. However, it is still not being implemented. In October, I announced a review of it on the basis that small, rural and disadvantaged schools would most likely lose out through the system.

The idea behind the system is to ensure the needs of the children with more serious learning difficulties continue to be met. They of course will still be able to go through their individual applications and their needs will be met for whatever number of hours on an individual basis. The new system will ensure that the needs of children with mild learning difficulties will be picked up in the school. These can be identified by the school, the parents and now the added expertise of the special educational needs organisers.

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