Ruairi Quinn (Dublin South East, Labour)

I will respond first in general terms before addressing specific cases if the Deputy so wishes. The number of special needs assistants in the system, which has been capped, stands at 10,575. Through the National Council for Special Education, we are trying to move to a system where each school has an allocation of special needs assistants and each principal will have a degree of discretion in allocating the SNA resource across a range of pupils. In the past, an individual SNA was attached to an individual pupil for a certain period. In response to many of the requests that have come back from educational providers themselves and boards of management, we are trying to get a certain degree of flexibility. It is in the early stages yet and they are looking at ways in which schools in a similar area could possibly share SNAs, from one school to a cluster of schools. There may be efficiencies and an effective redeployment of resources within that model. We will be guided by what is practical and what works on the ground, but that is where we are at the moment. We have to cap it at 10,575 but we want to ensure that we will get the best possible utilisation of that resource.

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