Ulick Burke (Fine Gael)
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I thank you, a Chathaoirligh, for selecting this matter and I thank the Minister of State for coming to the House to deal with it.

St. Colman's national school, Corofin, Cummer, Tuam, County Galway, has an enrolment of 190 children and has been clustered for many years with four other national schools for learning support services. The current learning support teacher is based in Belclare national school and serves Annagh boys' school, Annagh girls' school, Belclare national school, Sylaune national school and St. Colman's national school. She has a full caseload of 30 pupils, 11 of whom are in St. Colman's national school. She has no time slot to provide for other children and there are at least another ten eligible pupils, with a recent child coming in at the seventh percentile on the Drumcondra reading test. Sadly, the board of management and the principal must tell parents that they cannot currently provide any learning support for that child and the ten other children. It is not acceptable in this day and age to say to the parents of ten children that their children cannot be provided with learning support services. Where is the commitment to access and equity in education?

These people made a conscious decision last autumn to concentrate their resources on the lower classes so that early intervention could be provided for pupils in the senior infants and second classes. This is something the Minister for Education and Science would deny vehemently if he was here. All that can be done now is to intervene at the infant stage and first classes. Half the school enrolments in these schools must go without access to learning support. I do not know what the Minister of State will say today, but there are eligible pupils in the third, fourth, fifth and sixth classes who are not being catered for and are being denied their entitlement.

The learning support teacher's caseload is stretched to the limit. When one considers that there is a 19 mile distance between the two furthest schools the teacher is trying to serve, it must become apparent to the Minister of State that it is an impossible situation which cannot be allowed to continue. The timetable has been structured to eliminate as much travel as possible. Corofin is a growing satellite suburb of Galway city with upwards of 70 houses currently under construction. The school is being expanded this summer to cater for increasing needs. It is ironic that it cannot provide the service the children need.

The board of management made an application to the Department of Education and Science for a full-time learning support teacher in the school. We do not know what has happened, but the Department has not even been courteous enough to reply. I do not know what is wrong because there has been no reply to this request. The local inspector is fully aware of the situation. I cannot understand why the Department of Education and Science will not reply to this request. Perhaps the Minister and his officials are using their time to provide educational packs for Fianna Fáil candidates.

The board of management, teachers and parents are at their wits' end trying to do their best in the circumstances and they are not being provided with the backup services by the Department, which will not even acknowledge them. I ask the Minister of State to indicate that he will not continue to deny these children their entitlements. They have established needs, which are already certified on assessment. Why, therefore, must they go without when other children have access to a similar service? It is unbelievable that it is just the infants and lower classes who have access to the service. I ask the Minister of State to indicate why the Government has not had the courtesy to reply to the request of the board of management and the principal, indicating the Department's intentions. Despite all the endeavours and statements made to the effect that the Government is providing such services on a global scale throughout the country, this is one instance which is seriously out of step with the remainder of the country.

Tom Kitt (Dublin South, Fianna Fail)
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I apologise to the Senator on behalf of the Minister for Education and Science who unfortunately could not attend the Seanad today. I am pleased to have been given the opportunity on behalf of the Department of Education and Science to clarify the position on the allocation of learning support provision for the schools referred to by the Senator.

It is a matter for the school principal, together with the learning support teacher, to allocate appropriate time to pupils requiring learning support assistance. However, the Department of Education and Science is reviewing existing arrangements for the allocation of special educational supports to primary schools. In that context, officials from the Department have been involved in ongoing discussions on a weighted system of allocation with representative interests. At this stage it would be premature to anticipate the outcome for the schools in question. I can confirm, however, that the basic purpose of that review is to ensure that each school has the level of resources required to cater for its pupils with special educational needs.

Ulick Burke (Fine Gael)
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Not in Corofin.

Tom Kitt (Dublin South, Fianna Fail)
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In the case of teacher resources, the outcome for each applicant school will be based on a new weighted system of allocation which I announced recently. This system, as part of which an additional 350 teaching posts will be allocated, will involve two main elements, namely, making a staffing allocation to schools based on a predicted incidence of pupils with special educational needs; and making individual allocations in the case of children with more acute lower-prevalence special educational needs.

It is expected that the change to a weighted system will bring with it a number of benefits. The new system will reduce the need for individualised educational psychological assessment; reduce the volume of applications to the Department for additional resources for individual pupils; and give greater flexibility to schools, which will facilitate the development and implementation of improved systems and procedures in schools to meet the needs of pupils with low achievement and pupils with special educational needs.

The detailed arrangements will be set out in a circular to be issued to schools before the end of the current school year. Schools due to receive the additional posts will also be notified within this timeframe. I thank the Senator once again for giving me the opportunity to clarify the matter in this House.

Ulick Burke (Fine Gael)
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There is no clarification in that response.