Josepha Madigan (Dublin Rathdown, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Work is under way in respect of the new allocations for schools and they will issue as soon as possible. There will be consultation with stakeholders in advance. It is primarily the job of the NCSE to assess each school and its allocation. It is up to each school to allocate its SNAs as it sees fit. For mainstream classes, as I said, no diagnosis is required. The criteria for the front-loading allocation are clear. There is a baseline number of enrolments and account is taken of the number of children with complex needs, the gender of the children, whether it is a delivering equality of opportunity in schools , DEIS, school, and the educational attainment of the children. As Minister of State with responsibility for special education, I want every school to be adequately resourced with SNAs. The Deputy will be aware I have spoken previously about the school inclusion model and how that will benefit our children into the future.

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