Noel Treacy (Galway East, Fianna Fail)

I am pleased to have the opportunity to clarify the position of the Department of Education and Science on resource teaching posts in County Limerick which cater for children with special needs. As the Senator knows, the Department proposes to introduce a new system to allocate resource teaching supports to such pupils. The new system of teacher allocation will involve a general allocation to all primary schools to cater for pupils with higher-incidence special educational needs. Such needs include borderline, mild and mild general learning disabilities and specific learning disabilities. The allocations are intended to support those with learning support needs who function at or below the tenth percentile on a standardised test of reading and-or mathematics.

The Minister for Education and Science is conscious of the difficulties which may arise as a result of the implementation of the model as proposed, especially for children in small and rural schools including those in County Limerick. Accordingly, the model is under review to assess whether it will provide an automatic response to pupils with common mild learning disabilities without the need to employ cumbersome individual applications while ensuring the continued provision to pupils currently in receipt of supports of services appropriate to their needs. The review involves consultation with representative interests and the National Council for Special Education.

I emphasise that individual applications may continue to be made for specific resource teacher allocations for any pupil with lower-incidence special educational needs. I hope this clarifies matters for the Senator.