Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein)
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Gabhaim buíochas leis an Leas-Cheann Chomhairle as deis a thabhairt an cheist seo a phlé. The decision of the Department of Education and Science to axe the jobs of more than 70 special needs assistants has caused shock throughout the State, especially to those working in the special needs area. I compliment the trade union IMPACT, which represents special needs assistants, on bringing this matter to public attention.

These assistants provide invaluable support in schools to children with special needs. In many cases, children simply could not attend school without their help. They operate in both special and mainstream schools and assist children with both physical and intellectual disabilities. The assistants are part of the infrastructure of care and education in this State. We know how inadequate that support structure is for children with special educational needs and for people with disabilities, although I acknowledge improvements have been made in recent years.

One of those improvements was the recruitment of the assistants in the first place. There are now more than 5,000 of them linked to individual pupils rather than to schools or localities. In that overall context, the decision to cut more than 70 of these posts is seen as incredible. As my colleague, the Sinn Féin education spokesperson, Deputy Crowe, stated yesterday, it beggars belief. It is even more incredible considering the review carried out by the National Council for Special Education, which advises the Minister for Education and Science, has identified a shortfall of 175 special needs assistants in the State.

IMPACT has called on the Department of Education and Science to agree a mechanism that would keep experienced special needs assistants in the system and avoid these sackings. I fully support that call. The Department has informed the union, however, that the special needs assistants are allocated to individual pupils and that when they move on or are no longer in need of a special needs assistant, the post must go. The Department has said that there is no system of reallocation and it would be too complex to create one. I do not accept that. Compared with the complexities faced by parents, teachers and assistants in looking after children with special needs, this is a minor bureaucratic hurdle that could easily be crossed if the will existed.

I urge the Minister of State to agree with IMPACT a panel system for special needs assistants similar to that operated for teachers. I understand there will be talks next week and I urge the Minister of State to approach those talks with flexibility and generosity. As IMPACT has stated, it is utter madness to show dedicated, experienced staff the door when children in other schools are crying out for a special needs assistant. This will hit the most vulnerable children in the education system. There is a suspicion this is being done so the Department can avoid its responsibilities under the Protection of Employees (Fixed-Term Work) Act. The Act outlaws discrimination against temporary staff and restricts employers' ability to avoid their responsibilities by hiring staff on a series of short-term contracts. I hope that is not the case. Special needs assistants have only been in the system for four or five years so it makes no sense to make more than 70 of them redundant.

This issue must also be related to the continuing failure of the Minister for Education and Science to issue her review of the revised system of allocation for special needs teachers. We were promised that review earlier this year and then in April. We are now in the month of May and parents of children with special needs, school principals and teachers who are trying to plan for the coming school year are still in the dark. This is no way to treat the most vulnerable children in the education system and I appeal to the Minister of State to inform the House where we stand on the review of the special needs teachers allocation and to do all he can to ensure it is published speedily.

Brian Lenihan Jnr (Dublin West, Fianna Fail)
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I am replying on behalf of the Minister for Education and Science, Deputy Hanafin, but I am glad Deputy Ó Caoláin has raised this matter on the Adjournment of the House because it gives the Minister an opportunity to put the case. While legitimate matters about staff concerns arise from this matter, there is no substantive issue related to the welfare or care of this group of vulnerable children.

Special needs assistants are assigned to schools to meet the care needs of individual children who have been assessed by a psychologist as requiring this type of support. Where it has been established that additional special needs assistant posts are necessary, these posts continue to be allocated on an ongoing basis. The recruitment of additional staff in schools where such a need has been identified is not contingent on the removal of special needs assistants from schools with surplus staff. Where a need has been identified, schools can proceed immediately to recruit the required staff.

This Government has put in place an unprecedented level of support for children with special needs. Since 1998, the number of special needs assistants has increased from under 300 to nearly 6,000. In addition, more effective systems, such as the National Council for Special Education, have been put in place to ensure that children get support as early as possible.

At this stage the National Council for Special Education has dealt with all new applications from schools for special needs assistance that will be required from the beginning of September 2005. Therefore, there should be no reason a child enrolling in a school in September 2005 who requires special needs assistance does not have that assistance in place from his or her first day in school.

Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein)
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There is a shortfall.

Brian Lenihan Jnr (Dublin West, Fianna Fail)
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There is no restriction on the recruitment of special needs assistants. The Department of Education and Science has been conducting a review of special needs assistance provision in primary schools. The review is concerned with the level and deployment of special needs assistance posts in mainstream classes. The intention of this is to ensure that the level of approved special needs assistance support in schools, and the manner in which that support is allocated, ensures that the special care needs of pupils are being appropriately met. Where the review to date has found that additional special needs assistants are needed to cater for the needs of specific children in schools, those schools have been informed that they may make the necessary arrangements immediately for putting the required staff in place.

The review has also found that some schools no longer have the care needs for which the special needs assistant was originally sanctioned. In some cases the child may have left the school while in other cases the care needs of the child have diminished as the child has progressed through the school. Where a child for whom a special needs assistant was sanctioned no longer needs such support, that post ceases. In this regard the schools where surplus special needs assistant support was identified have been advised they may retain this surplus until the end of the current school year.

There is no redeployment scheme in place by which special needs assistants, surplus to requirements in a particular school, can be redeployed to another school. Putting such a scheme in place would be complex as there is no guarantee that as a post becomes surplus in one school, an additional post would become available in the locality.

Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein)
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However, it could be.

Brian Lenihan Jnr (Dublin West, Fianna Fail)
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Unlike teachers, where posts are allocated on a pupil-teacher ratio basis, enabling a redeployment scheme to work effectively, special needs assistant posts are allocated on the basis of individual care needs and the creation of a workable redeployment scheme would be more difficult.

Discussions are ongoing with IMPACT, as referred to by the Deputy, on this matter and further discussions are scheduled for next week. However, the appointment of special needs assistants to individual schools is a matter for the boards of management of those schools. It is open to any existing special needs assistant to apply for a newly created post in any other school.

The revised procedure for providing a general allocation of resource teaching hours to schools will be announced soon, in time to be implemented for the next school year. Resource teaching for children in the lower incidence disability categories is now dealt with by the National Council for Special Education. These resources will continue to be allocated on the basis of individual applications.

I thank Deputy Ó Caoláin for giving me the opportunity to clarify the position on these matters.