Richard Bruton (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

As the Deputy knows, the EPSEN Act sets out very distinct statutory requirements around assessments, plans, services and appeals, etc. Essentially, the system is evolving to the point at which all of these clear legal requirements can be met. A pupil plan must be in place before a special needs assistant can be allocated to a school in respect of that pupil. The Department is using the existence of a personal pupil plan as a condition for accessing some of the key supports that may be gained by a child. We are doing our best to roll this practice out. We are piloting the new allocation process, which involves new approaches to teaching special education within our schools. We are hoping that as these pilots evolve and we learn from them, we will be in a position to implement the statutory requirements. It takes learning to move from one to the other. Work is needed at school level if the service is to evolve. In fairness, there has been a huge increase in the allocation of resource teachers and special needs assistants in recent years as Governments have been putting in place the infrastructure to underpin the personal planning approach.

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