Ruairi Quinn (Dublin South East, Labour)

I know of the Deputy's interest in this matter. I will confine my remarks to Scoil Mhuire. I can send information on the other school to the Deputy in written form if he wishes. I know we are facing time constraints. There are 45 teachers and 17.75 special assistants at Scoil Mhuire, which had an enrolment of 559 pupils on 30 September 2010. The school's three classes for children with autism have an enrolment of 17 children. The school's special needs assistant allocation of 17.75 posts for the 2011-12 school year includes 12 special needs assistants who support the autistic spectrum disorders unit and 5.75 special needs assistants who support nine pupils with special educational needs in mainstream classes. The school's special needs assistant allocation for 2010-11 was 25.5 posts, which means there was a reduction of 7.75 special needs assistant posts at the school in September 2011. That reduction resulted from changing enrolments, diminishing care needs and the need to readjust the allocation of special needs assistant support at the school's autistic spectrum disorders unit from the model of one-to-one special needs assistant support that had developed to a model closer to the recommended ratio for the staffing of such units, which is that there should be one special needs assistant for every three pupils while taking the individual care needs of children into account. The unit currently has a ratio of more than four special needs assistants for every six pupils, which is significantly in excess of the recommended ratio, which would provide for two specials needs assistants for every six pupils with an autistic spectrum disorder, as outlined in the Department's circular 0038/10. There are also three teachers at the unit, which gives a total of 15 staff to support 17 students in the autistic spectrum disorder unit. My heart goes out to any parent who is in a situation where their child is in need of special support. In a way, they cannot get enough support and one would not be human if one did not respond in that way. However, I am not an expert in this area. We have to be guided by specialists who are under the National Council for Special Educational Needs. We implement the recommendations that they advise and they make the decisions in regard to the allocation of support services for children with special educational needs and related requirements in this area.

This is complex, very emotional and very difficult. However, we cannot ring-fence it entirely in terms of resources. Even allowing for that, as the supplementary information in this reply will indicate to the Deputy, nothing is static. There is movement in the system that has nothing to do with resources per se because of changes in the involvement. If the Deputy wishes, I will get him full details in regard to this matter and in regard to St. Senan's school in Wexford also. I suspect Deputy Wallace would have a similar interest but I am constrained by time pressures.

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