Ruairi Quinn (Dublin South East, Labour)

The Deputy will be aware that the special needs assistant, SNA, scheme provides additional supports for schools to enable them to support pupils with significant care needs. SNAs are allocated to schools by the National Council for Special Education, NCSE, through its network of local special educational needs organisers, SENOs. The NCSE operates within my Department's criteria in allocating such support. This now includes a requirement for the NCSE to have regard to an overall cap on the number of SNA posts.

Schools may apply to the NCSE for an SNA post to support students with an assessed special educational need who also have a significant medical need or a significant physical or sensory impairment. Students with an assessed special educational need who present with significantly challenging behaviour may also qualify for some SNA support. I have no plans to review the allocation of special needs assistants in DEIS - developing equality of opportunity in schools - schools, as SNAs are allocated to such schools on the same basis as other schools, including special schools, that is, on the assessed individual needs of pupils in the context of the resources available to a school.

The programme for Government clearly states education will be a priority for the Government and that we will endeavour to protect and enhance the educational experience of children, young people and students. To that end, we will endeavour to protect front-line services in education. However, the fiscal position is extremely difficult. The country is effectively in receivership. It is necessary to ensure educational services are delivered within the resources available. I intend to prioritise and support special educational services. However, I cannot revisit the previous Government's decision to place a cap on the number of posts available under the SNA scheme. That number is 10,575 whole-time equivalent, WTE, posts. That is a significant number of posts and, unlike other areas of the public sector, vacancies are being filled up to this number. It also represents continual increases in the number of SNAs in recent years.

Additional information not given on the floor of the House.

It is considered that with equitable and careful management and distribution of these resources there should be sufficient posts to provide access to SNA support for all children who require such care support to attend school in accordance with departmental criteria.

The NCSE asked schools to submit all applications for SNA support to it by 18 March and intends to inform schools of their annual SNA allocations as soon as possible in advance of the coming school year. My Department and I will be glad to consider any suggestions from school management or parent representative organisations as to how the allocation of SNA resources can best be managed within the context of the overall limit on SNA numbers established. In that regard, I am committed to making whatever improvements are possible to the resource allocation system. We all must understand the legacy of economic mismanagement which the previous Government gave to this country.

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