Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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10. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills her ongoing provisions and-or proposals to meet the educational requirements of children with special needs at primary and second level; the extent to which adequate places, special needs teachers and special needs assistants are currently provided for and are likely to be augmented in the course of the current year; if her Department has identified any particular deficiencies in areas of population expansion; if urban or rural settings have particular requirements in this regard; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [45092/14]

Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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My question relates to the current and ongoing need for special needs teachers and places and SNAs in schools in both urban and rural settings at all levels.

Jan O'Sullivan (Limerick City, Labour)
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Expenditure supporting pupils with Special Educational Needs in 2015 will amount to over €1.3 billion, which is equivalent to approximately 17% of the overall allocation for education and training.

These resources have been protected, or in some areas increased, despite requirements to make expenditure savings in other areas. As part of budget 2015, I recently announced that an additional 365 special needs assistant, SNA, posts would be provided in 2015, as well as an additional 480 resource teachers, to take into account increased demand and demographic growth and to ensure that children can continue to have access to additional supports in school. In addition, over 130 new special classes have been established for the 2014-15 school year.

The National Council for Special Education, NCSE, will continue to plan and co-ordinate the provision of education and support services to ensure that the educational requirements of children with special needs can continue to be met in all areas.

Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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I thank the Minister for her reply. Have the Minister or the Department identified the ongoing need in small schools for such facilities, whether special classes or in mainstream classes, in the view of the local authority and community? To what extent does the Minister expect that to be addressed in the context of the budgetary provisions for the current year?

Jan O'Sullivan (Limerick City, Labour)
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There are 130 new special classes coming on stream and the extra SNAs and resource teachers as I have indicated. The NCSE is consulting on a new model of allocation to ensure that the resources are in the school when the child arrives rather than the parents having to in some cases pay for a diagnosis and wait for the supports to be put in place. We want to ensure that the child is at the centre of this, particularly the special needs child, and that we provide resources, whether in the mainstream class or a special class attached to a mainstream school or, in a small number of cases, in special schools. We have allocated extra resources for this and we will look to provide a more child-centred model.

Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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Do some regions have above average requirements for demographic or other reasons? Will it be possible to address those specifically? I refer to those where there is above average demand for special needs teachers, SNAs, and school accommodation for special facilities.

Jan O'Sullivan (Limerick City, Labour)
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I do not have figures on the demographics but I can get them for the Deputy if they are available. One area the NCSE is looking to address is to get a sense of the kind of need in a particular area so that schools will be given the resources in accordance with that. It is looking for background data, for example, from the Health Service Executive, HSE, early childhood services where there would be evidence of children with special needs about to go to school who will need certain services. The council will co-ordinate that information to ensure the services are there for the children.

Seán Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, Ceann Comhairle)
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The Deputy is not present to take question No. 11.