Mary Mitchell O'Connor (Dún Laoghaire, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I am taking this matter on behalf of the Minister, Deputy McHugh. As a former school principal, and I am not just saying this, I pay tribute to the wonderful work being done by SNAs everywhere to support children. I thank SNAs, of whom there will be 15,950 by the end of the year, for their efforts.

I understand the Senator's frustration because what she outlined has happened in my constituency and schools there have contacted me. I assure the House that the education of children with special needs remains a key priority. The Government will invest in the region of €560 million in the SNA scheme as part of a €1.9 billion investment in special educational needs overall this year. As already stated, there will be 15,950 SNAs working in our schools, providing support for approximately 37,500 pupils, by the end of this year. This is a 51% increase on 2011, when the number of SNAs stood at 10,575.

The SNA scheme has been a major factor in the successful integration and participation, which is so important, of children with special needs in mainstream education and in specialist settings, for example, special classes or special schools. The Department’s policy is to ensure that every child who is assessed as qualifying for SNA support will receive access to such support. The National Council for Special Education, NCSE, which, I stress, is an independent agency, is responsible, through its network of local special educational needs organisers, SENOs, for allocating SNA support to schools in accordance with published criteria. The Department is not involved in making decisions in respect of individual cases.

In considering applications for SNA support for individual pupils, SENOs take account of pupils' needs and consider the resources already available to the school to identify whether additional resources are needed or whether the school might reasonably be expected to meet the needs of pupils from its current level of resources. SNAs are not allocated to individual children but to schools as a school-based resource. It is important that this House is aware that each school’s allocation of SNA support can change from year to year in line with the changing student profile, for example, when students with special educational needs leave a school and are not replaced by others with a similar level of need, or when new students with significant needs enrol in a school. In addition, an individual student’s needs may change over time. In each case, the SNA allocation would be reviewed and adjusted, as required.

The NCSE has an appeals process and the advice I am giving to this school and to schools in my constituency is that they need to appeal very strongly. The appeals process may be invoked by a parent or a school where it is considered that a child was not granted access to SNA support on the grounds that the requirements of the SNA scheme are not met. Schools may also appeal a decision where the school considers that the NCSE has not allocated the appropriate level of SNA support to the school to meet the care needs of the children concerned as outlined in the Department’s circular.

I understand from the NCSE that it has received an appeal from Ballinabranna school and this will be dealt with in accordance with the formal appeals process. The Department is not involved in this process, nor is the Minister. The NCSE is available to support schools through advice and professional development where this is necessary. The council advises the Department on policy matters relating to meeting the needs of children with special needs.

On behalf of the Minister, I take this opportunity to assure the House that schools that have enrolled children who qualify for support from an SNA will continue to be allocated such support in a manner appropriate to their needs.