Josepha Madigan (Dublin Rathdown, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

We obviously do not want a situation where a school feels its needs are not being met in order for it to look after children with additional needs. We want to give the supports. The NCSE is there and the school should speak to it. If there are to be future enrolments, of course its allocation will be reviewed. Complex needs are now taken into account in two ways. First, those students who are performing at the lower levels in standardised tests, which indicate the greatest level of need for additional learning support and, second, pupils with more complex needs who have been exempted, or given the highest weight, are considered.

As I said, the SET model allocations will see 30% of schools having no change and 37% seeing an increase. Of those schools, such as the school the Senator Murphy mentioned, that have seen a reduction, 70% have had their hours reduced by five hours or less. The reduction at individual school level is being driven primarily by the change in demographics and reducing enrolments, especially in the primary sector, but that is always subject to review if there are increasing enrolments down the line.