Charlie McConalogue (Donegal North East, Fianna Fail)
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63. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if he will be accepting and implementing the recent recommendations of the National Council for Special Education for a new model of allocating teaching resources for students with special educational needs; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [29393/14]

Charlie McConalogue (Donegal North East, Fianna Fail)
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Does the Minister intend to accept and implement the recent recommendations of the National Council for Special Education for a new model of allocating teaching resources for students with special educational needs?

Ciarán Cannon (Galway East, Fine Gael)
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The National Council for Special Education published its report on a proposed new model for allocating teachers for students with special educational needs on 18 June last. The report recommends that a new allocation model should be developed based on a school's educational profile, while also providing a baseline allocation to every mainstream school in order to support inclusion. It was recommended that the school profile should take into account details of the number of students with complex needs attending, the percentages of students performing below a certain threshold on standardised tests and the social context of a school.

To assist with the process of considering the report's recommendations, my Department will begin to gather information required to develop the proposed new model. This will review how the proposed model will impact on schools. There will also be full and comprehensive consultation with stakeholders and education partners, including the parents of special needs children. We hope this work can be completed by the autumn.

Charlie McConalogue (Donegal North East, Fianna Fail)
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I commend the former inspector of the Department of Education and Skills, Mr. Emmet Stack, and his group on compiling this report and for their work on it. It will be crucial that there is proper consultation and that everybody's views are taken on board before deciding how to move forward. The Minister, Deputy Quinn, in his press statement coinciding with the release of the report, struck a cautious note, saying he would carefully review the recommendations in the report and in examining how to implement a new model it would be important that he both protect the gains that have been made in special educational provision in recent years while also seeking to improve provision. However, media reports at the time indicated that the Minister was far more positive. The Irish Timesreported that the Minister, Deputy Quinn, who had accepted the recommendations and had put the plan out for consultation before it comes before the Government for approval in the autumn, had said that the current system was clearly unfair and that he believed it should stop. Does the Minister expect the report to be implemented as recommended, and is there a difference between the Department's approach to it and the political leadership's approach, as in the approach of the Minister, Deputy Quinn?

Ciarán Cannon (Galway East, Fine Gael)
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It is exceptionally important in building faith and trust in the new model of allocation that very significant consultation takes place, and that will take a period of time. It is important that it should happen. The report from the working group recommends that a new special education teacher allocation model, which would target resources where the need is greatest, should be introduced. At a time of finite resources it is important that teaching supports to children with special educational needs should be targeted at those with the greatest need. The Minister asked his officials to consult fully with the stakeholders. To assist in that process, the Department will gather the information required to develop the proposed new model. The Minister, Deputy Quinn, has been very proactive in ensuring that this report was published in a timely fashion and I do not anticipate any long delay in carrying out the consultative process and coming to a conclusion at the end of that as to how the recommendations of the report will be implemented.

Charlie McConalogue (Donegal North East, Fianna Fail)
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The Irish Primary Principals Network, IPPN, raised some concerns about the employment of teachers with restricted recognition. The IPPN chief executive officer, Seán Cottrell, said, "The proposed profiling of schools will enable those with the greatest level of need to secure the greater resource. However, some schools may lose practically all of their current supports while others may run the risk of becoming "ghetto schools". It is essential that schools which lose resources should only do so over a period of time. Many of the schools losing resources will rightly point out that the support they received was used to move pupils more quickly between bands which will be more difficult to do in the future." These are genuine concerns of the IPPN about the how the report's recommendations will be implemented. Will the Minister respond to those concerns?

Ciarán Cannon (Galway East, Fine Gael)
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It certainly is not the intention to create what the IPPN might describe as "ghetto schools". I do not understand that terminology. The Deputy is aware that as children with special needs move quite fluidly through the school system, the challenges each school faces in supporting and caring for children with special needs change and evolve over time. It is not reasonable to expect that the resources available to each school will somehow remain static.

They must change and evolve alongside the changing needs of children within the school. Concerns the IPPN might have should be addressed within the consultation model proposed by the Minister and I am very confident that they will be.

Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
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Obviously, consultation is good, as is the idea of a model that is more flexible and responsive to need. However, given the oft-repeated phrase "finite resources", problems can emerge. One particular question raised by the INTO concerns the moratorium on posts of responsibility and posts involving special duties, given that schools may have a difficulty in getting what they need and making the case for what they need because of the moratorium. In fact, the INTO claims the recommendations will be unworkable without lifting the moratorium. I would like to hear what the Minister of State has to say about this.

Finian McGrath (Dublin North Central, Independent)
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It is sad that the Minister of State has said he does not understand what the ghettoisation of schools means. It occurs when the mix in a school is lost. If all disadvantaged and disruptive students, as well as students with special needs, are in one school and the natural mix is lost, that is not good for the pupils and education. We hear a lot of talk about the allocation of resource teaching hours. What is going to happen in the case of children with Down's syndrome in September? A couple of months ago the Government accepted my Bill, the Down's Syndrome (Equality of Access) Bill, but I do not know what is going to happen in the provision of resource teaching hours. I have heard a lot of talk about the allocation of such hours and it was said the Minister had done a great job, but I do not think so. This morning I received a letter from the parent of a student in St. Michael's House, Baldoyle, which was losing a teacher and a special needs assistant. It provides an excellent service in Baldoyle for severely disabled children. I would like the Minister of State to respond on the allocation of resource teaching hours.

Ciarán Cannon (Galway East, Fine Gael)
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In response to Deputy Finian McGrath's question, there are an extra 480 resource teaching posts available in the school system this year and another 480 will be made available next year. By the end of this year there will be the highest number of SNAs ever employed in the school system in the history of the State and that number is set to increase next year. Within the finite resources available to us, we have, as best we can, protected special needs education within the overall education budget, which has been a central tenet of the work of the Minister, Deputy Ruairí Quinn, in the past three years.

To reply to Deputy Richard Boyd Barrett's question, if the INTO has a concern that, without lifting the moratorium, schools will not have the required resources available to them, I again suggest it take up that question in the upcoming consultation process.