Seán Crowe (Dublin South West, Sinn Fein)
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Question 2: To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if he will investigate the possibility of giving additional special needs assistance support to help three children with severe learning and physical disability who have recently enrolled at a school (details supplied) in County Kildare; if the current inadequate allocation of SNA support to this school contradicts commitments from him that newly enrolled children with special needs will receive adequate SNA support. [25631/11]

Ruairi Quinn (Dublin South East, Labour)
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The overall level of special needs assistant, SNA, support in the special school in Kildare, referred to by the Deputy, is being reviewed by the National Council for Special Education, NCSE. The school is a special school for pupils with moderate general learning difficulties and severe to profound learning difficulties and also has a number of classes for pupils with autism. The NCSE will assess the care needs of the new pupils in the context of the overall care needs of current pupils and also take into account the existing levels of SNA support available to the school. Notwithstanding the outcome of this review, it is the position of both my Department and the NCSE that, given the exceptionally high levels of teaching and support staff which have been allocated to the school, it has sufficient existing supports to provide for the teaching and care requirements of all of the children enrolled in the school, pending the completion of the review.

Seán Crowe (Dublin South West, Sinn Fein)
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We have addressed the issue of special needs assistants on previous occasions. I approach it today from the angle of a special needs school. Following the "Prime Time" programme on this issue, more people have contacted public representatives. The Minister has said his Department believes the school in question has sufficient special needs assistants in its system. That, in itself, is creating a problem. Parents say they are being told there are sufficient SNAs within the school structure. They and I understood that the matter was under review.

An SNA is assigned to an individual child and my question refers to three specific children. When the school originally applied for SNAs for them, it was told the support would not be made available. One of the children has CINCA syndrome and Down's syndrome. He also has cardiac defects that require further surgery, pulmonary hypertension and chronic lung disease. He uses a hearing aid and a wheelchair, wears nappies and cannot walk or talk. For some reason, he has been assessed as not needing a special needs assistant. The other two children also have difficulties and the parents believe the system has failed them.

I ask this question because we have failed these children in the past. I recognise the Minister's difficulty with regard to the provision of SNAs, but problems continue to arise. Does the system need to be changed? Perhaps I will have a better understanding when I have more experience on the select committee dealing with education issues and see the broader educational needs. However, the parents and I do not understand why this problem cannot be solved. Is the system archaic, or does it not lend itself to being understood? More and more families are contacting me and other public representatives. We need to make the system simpler. It does not seem to be responding to the needs of the child, and that is where I am coming from in this question. It is one school, but it could be any school.

Ruairi Quinn (Dublin South East, Labour)
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I understand the Deputy's interest and his genuine concern, which I share in respect of all children with special needs. There are currently 56 pupils enrolled in the school, of whom three pupils have been allowed to attend only on a partial or limited basis by the school management and board, pending a review by the NCSE of SNA allocation levels. The school is seeking to have that level increased and the NCSE is considering it. The school has 56 pupils with special needs and there are ten teachers, 20 full-time SNAs and one part-time SNA. An SNA is not necessarily assigned full time to a particular pupil. They are not personal assistants; they help in certain areas.

The NCSE has received a request from that school, which has stated that these are highly dependent children, as the Deputy has indicated, and it is up to the NCSE to decide professionally if an extra SNA support is necessary. We have the capacity to allocate that from the 10% kept back in May and June. I do not know when the review by the NCSE will be completed, but on foot of what the Deputy has raised, I will try to ensure this is accelerated as quickly as possible.