Charlie McConalogue (Donegal North East, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

As the Minister knows, there is real concern in schools across the country as to what system will face them next September and what allocation model will be used to decide on the number of resource hours that individual schools will get. The schools will be making their applications in February or March 2016 for the following September, yet there is a total lack of clarity as to the level of resources they will receive. In her reply, the Minister indicated that the current system is inequitable due to a lack of resources in NEPS to ensure that educational assessments can be provided. Given that the current system is very much predicated on the assessed needs of individual children, can the Minister explain how schools can be certain that children with a requirement for additional supports will get appropriate supports in the absence of NEPS assessments? Would it not be a better alternative approach to ensure that NEPS has sufficient resources so that schools can have assessments carried out on those children they feel require them and can then be assured that additional hours will be provided specifically for those children?

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