Colm Keaveney (Galway East, Fianna Fail)
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5. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills his plans to improve special needs education; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [16464/14]

Ruairi Quinn (Dublin South East, Labour)
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I recently announced that an additional 390 special needs assistant, SNA, posts had been made available to the National Council for Special Education, NCSE, to allocate to schools to the end of 2014, bringing the total number of SNAs available to 10,965. An additional 480 resource teaching posts have also been made available for the current school year, bringing to over 10,700 the number of resource teaching-learning support teachers in mainstream schools. This is a greater number of SNA and resource teachers than has been allocated at any time previously.

In May 2013 the NCSE published policy advice on supporting students with special needs in schools and made a number of recommendations to improve special education provision. At my request, it has developed proposals for a new model for the allocation of teaching supports to schools. I will consider these proposals carefully, with my colleagues in government, in order to establish how best we can continue to make improvements to special education provision.

Colm Keaveney (Galway East, Fianna Fail)
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I thank the Minister for his response. We all acknowledge that many great advancements have been made in the past decade in special needs provision for children. I welcome the 390 additional posts in this regard. However, there remains an issue of resources across the country, as there are black spot areas in Dublin, Dublin West and north Kildare in particular. One school enrolled two junior infant classes at the commencement of last year, totalling 54 children. Half way through the academic year, it came to the attention of the school authorities that three children had challenging needs. From the initial consultations with the parents in 2013, it was obvious that this was the case. It came as no surprise to the school, as an assessment of needs was carried out for one of the children involved. During the course of the academic year, it became apparent to the principal that there was a problem with securing resources for these children. The parents of one child secured an assessment of needs, as a consequence of which the child received 4.2 hours per week of low-incidence teaching. Half way through this year, the other two children are still awaiting their assessments. The first year of their educational lives has been lost because they lack the critical supports they require to participate successfully.

Ruairi Quinn (Dublin South East, Labour)
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I thank the Deputy for his supplementary question. If he wishes to send me the details, I will examine the specific case. The allocation of resources is based on an assessment conducted by a special educational needs organiser or, in some cases, depends on private arrangements made by parents. I believe that is what the Deputy is referring to.

Colm Keaveney (Galway East, Fianna Fail)
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I thank the Minister for his invitation to forward the details. Does he not believe there is an opportunity for every child to undergo developmental needs assessments at three and a half years of age through the public health system? Is there not a more effective way of establishing a child's needs one year before entering the primary school system? Not every parent can afford to borrow from a credit union or put a hand in his or her pocket to have a needs assessment made. Another Department is involved, but I am prepared to accept that the Minister is flexible enough to consider the integration of some data from primary care settings and the Department of Education and Skills to assess children's needs.

Ruairi Quinn (Dublin South East, Labour)
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I will consider the Deputy's suggestion and discuss it with the Ministers for Health and Children and Youth Affairs.