Ruairi Quinn (Dublin South East, Labour)

I am unsure what the response to getting the statistical data on a county basis will be but I will make inquiries in that regard. If the data are available I will make them available to all Deputies in the House and to Senators as well.

The position regarding holding back a certain number of posts was genuinely misunderstood across the sector at the time. It was a good management precaution. We are now at the end of one academic year and people will be presenting for schools between now and September and onwards. It was considered prudent to hold back something of the order of 10% of the total allocation to establish what new, legitimate claims and requirements for special needs assistants would manifest themselves. If these did not transpire then we would be in a position to go to the full allocation of 10,575 posts. That is the position.

Deputies will understand that I am loath to be in a position to have authorised the NCSE to allocate on the basis of what the council knows now only to find ourselves confronted next September with new demands which do not surface until that time and to be utterly unable to respond to these. It is prudent management to do what we have done. I will make inquiries to ensure that reserve is rapidly deployed.

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