Fergal Browne (Fine Gael)

This matter is much simpler than others that have been raised. As the Minister of State is aware, great strides have been made in recent years regarding special needs assistants and extra resource hours for children in primary schools. However, we now have a ludicrous scenario such that decisions have been made by the Department of Education and Science concerning hundreds of primary schools regarding whether they are getting the extra special needs assistants or resource hours but those schools have not been told. I know of one school which applied last June for a special needs assistant for a particular pupil. It has still not been given any indication whether it has been successful.

The Minister for Education and Science made an announcement over Easter about the appointment of 350 new teachers in the special needs area, but he did not indicate from where they will come. Unfortunately, the Department of Education and Science has had a tendency to do that in the past. It appoints new teachers but, invariably, it takes them from mainstream classes. That can have a knock-on effect throughout the school. That is why we have ended up with so many unqualified teachers in the system.

I request that the Department immediately inform all the primary schools so they can start to plan for next year. Some schools will lose teachers, others will gain teachers and some will keep the same number. Schools need to start to plan now as they have less than two months left before the school term ends.

A child normally spends eight years in primary school, but children have been waiting for one year to find out whether they will get extra help. One year out of eight years is a considerable block of time and it can have a huge effect on a child in the future, especially those children who need extra help. I hope the Minister of State will have positive news for me. If he cannot give me a definite answer today, I hope he will use his influence in the Department of Education and Science to make sure it notifies schools because, apparently, it knows what schools are getting. It should let the schools know what is happening because they have been waiting almost a year.