Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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Question 14: To ask the Minister for Education and Science the extent to which she will increase the numbers of resource, remedial, special needs teachers or special needs assistants in line with increased requirements; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [27696/05]

Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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Enormous progress has been made in recent years in increasing the number of teachers in our schools who are specifically dedicated to providing education for children with special educational needs.

At primary level there are now approximately 5,000 teachers in our schools working directly with children with special needs, including those requiring learning support. This compares to under 1,500 in 1998. One out of every five primary school teachers is now working specifically with children with special needs.

At second level, there are approximately 1,599 whole-time equivalent resource teachers in place to support pupils with special educational needs. This compares to approximately 200 such teachers in place in the 1997-98 school year.

At this stage there are approximately 6,304 whole-time equivalent special needs assistants, SNAs, in our primary and second level schools supporting children with special needs. The National Council for Special Education, through its network of locally based special education needs organisers, is responsible for processing any applications for additional SNA support that may be received from schools.

I will continue to prioritise the issue of special needs education and, in co-operation with the National Council for Special Education, ensure that all children with special needs are adequately resourced to enable them to meet their full potential.

Olwyn Enright (Laois-Offaly, Fine Gael)
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There were a number of difficulties relating to the implementation of the special education needs programme over the summer and with the flow of information to teachers. These difficulties have largely been dealt with now, but it is important that systems are put in place to ensure that such problems do not recur.

In terms of the special education system overall, does the Minister intend to ensure that the National Educational Psychological Service, NEPS, reaches its intended complement and how does she intend to ensure that every child who needs an assessment from NEPS receives one? The waiting lists are quite severe and schools in some areas are not covered by NEPS at all. How does the Minister intend to tackle that issue, to ensure that children are assessed?

I am aware that the system has changed recently and that not all children necessarily need a report now. However, there are still many children who will need a report. Parents go to private psychologists because they cannot get their child assessed by a NEPS psychologist and while they are entitled to do that not every parent can afford a private assessment. Some parents do not fall under the NEPS system because of where their child is located. How does the Minister intend to address this issue?

There are also some children experiencing difficulties despite the fact that they have a report stating that they have a special education need. They are not receiving the service they need under the new system. Will the Minister provide us with figures on the number of parents who have contacted the National Council for Special Education because they are dissatisfied with the fact that their children are not getting the service that expert psychologists have stated they need?

Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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I accept that when we put so many extra teachers in place this summer the system took some time to settle down. I thank the schools for their co-operation and the INTO for its help in implementing this process which has now settled down and is working quite well. I also believe the new circular which was circulated to all schools and which will be sent to all teachers is very helpful because it outlines case studies to assist teachers in coming to a decision regarding a child's education needs. One of the real advantages of the system, which should reduce the need for individual psychologists' reports, is the fact that the class teacher, in the first instance, can now identify a child with special needs and ensure his or her needs are met because the teacher is available in the classroom. Over and above that, children with more severe learning difficulties or the low incidence range can continue to get their own personal allocation. Thousands of children throughout the country will continue to be provided with that service.

There are more than 6,000 special needs assistants to cater for the needs of these children. I envisage that the level of assessments required by individual parents will not now be as great because they will be able to get the service without it. In schools where the National Educational Psychological Service is not available, there is a system whereby the State will purchase the service for children as long as the need is prioritised by the school.

Jan O'Sullivan (Limerick East, Labour)
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While I was campaigning for an hour in my city last Saturday, two school principals approached me and told me they were having serious problems. Both principals, who are based in rural villages, had lost the special needs assistant and resource teaching support they had the previous year. These people felt they had been doing a good job looking after children with special needs. However, because of the weighted model, they did not qualify for as much support as they had the previous year. Where one child would have had a full-time special needs assistant, they were now being asked to share an SNA with another child because of decisions of local special educational needs organisers. There are genuine difficulties for schools that are working hard and being all-inclusive in trying to bring as many children as possible with difficulties into their schools. These principals believe they have lost out under the system, which needs to be re-examined.

In some cases the NEPS psychologists are referring people to the Health Service Executive psychological service. I have come across people who have been told they must wait two years to be assessed within the health service before they will be considered for educational support.

Rory O'Hanlon (Cavan-Monaghan, Ceann Comhairle)
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As we are running out of time, I will hear very briefly from Deputy Finian McGrath and Deputy McGinley who are offering.

Dinny McGinley (Donegal South West, Fine Gael)
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As there are a number of one-teacher schools in the country, are there special arrangements to give these schools some form of support in the interests of health and safety? Is it the policy to have such a school manned by one teacher or is it the intention to have someone else in the class if the teacher is unavoidably absent, because otherwise the school will be closed? Is there any arrangement for one-teacher schools or will such schools be left on their own?

Finian McGrath (Dublin North Central, Independent)
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Does the Minister accept there are still major problems with services for children with disabilities in mainstream schools? Does she accept it is a disgrace and unacceptable in the education system that children with Down's syndrome, for example, should lose their special needs assistants and their parents must ring their Deputies and others to lobby them to get them back? Is it unacceptable that children, particularly primary school children with disabilities, cannot receive speech therapy services or occupational services?

Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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The position is that special needs assistants are provided for children with severe medical or physical needs. I am aware it is the aspiration of most parents that their child should not be dependant on an assistant but should have the skills to be independent in the classroom and to be able to deal with other children. The Down's Syndrome Association said it recognises that every child with Down's syndrome does not need a special needs assistant.

Finian McGrath (Dublin North Central, Independent)
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In the past week, I have spoken to two people with this problem.

Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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The association said it recognises that every child does not need such a service. I was present and discussing a playground while a child slept on the shoulder of a special needs assistant, which is not good for the development of a child. It is important that the allocation of special needs assistants, working with the SENO, should ensure the service meets the needs of the child as he or she develops. This would give the child the skills to be able to be increasingly independent.

On the question of one-teacher schools, if the principal teacher in a one-teacher school is unavoidably absent — some of these schools have just seven pupils, and there are approximately 20 such schools remaining in the country — they are entitled to a substitute for the day. However, because of the particular situation in regard to the islands this year, I allocated a second teacher to one-teacher schools on the islands because they would not have been able to get a qualified substitute at the time. A special exception was made in this regard.

In reply to Deputy O'Sullivan, an SNA is assigned to a school to meet the needs of a particular child. If that child moves on or if the needs of the child change, the SNA will be redeployed to someone else. As they grow older and gain extra skills, if a child no longer requires the full-time services of an SNA, that person can be shared between children. The local special needs organiser is designed to link in with the parents and the school to ensure the needs of children are being met. It is hoped to reach the stage where they will also link in with the health services.

There is no doubt there is a difficulty in regard to speech therapists because the local health regions are finding it extremely difficult to recruit them. We have increased the number of people being educated. There are more speech therapists graduating from the colleges. We have doubled the numbers, which I will get for the Deputy.

Finian McGrath (Dublin North Central, Independent)
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Is it ten?

Rory O'Hanlon (Cavan-Monaghan, Ceann Comhairle)
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The Deputy should not ask questions by way of interruption.

Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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No, it is much more than that.