Michael Finucane (Fine Gael)
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While I am disappointed the Minister for Education and Science is not in attendance, I respect the fact that the Minister of State with responsibility for children, Deputy Brian Lenihan, is here. He will have an appreciation of the matter I intend to raise. The Minister of State is well aware of the very active boards of action management group in County Limerick. The group was formed in response to the concerns of boards of management and parents about children with special educational needs at primary schools.

The new general allocation model is not working. Many primary schools, especially those in rural areas, are affected by the reduction in resource teacher allocations which means many children currently receiving special needs education will have the service removed. The Minister of State made the incorrect statement in the Limerick Leader this week that any child in Limerick city and county to whom one-to-one support had been allocated would not lose out under the new model. Surely, the reduced resource teaching hours in the special needs allocation for many schools means children will lose out.

While there are many examples I could give, I will focus on St. James's national school in Cappagh. The school has expanded rapidly over the past five years. The school had an enrolment of 64 pupils in 2001, 71 in 2002, 80 in 2003 and now has 88 children on its roll. In September 2005, the enrolment will be at least 97 pupils. While the extra eight pupils should entitle the school to an additional teacher, ironically, it now finds its teaching complement reduced by one. St. James's national school has a resource teacher based at the school who gives 80% of her time to the school. With a visiting learning support teacher, the school's special needs allocation is 1.2 teachers. From September 2005 the special needs allocation at the school will be reduced to 0.3 from a visiting teacher and 0.5 from a teacher it will have to hire part time. As a result of this reduction, the children in the school with special needs will suffer and will not be allocated the time they deserve. I can give many other examples to show how other schools in County Limerick are losing out on their special needs allocations.

The board of management action group has identified 87 children within the area on which it has information. In many cases these children have waited up to two years for psychological assessment and have been approved for one-to-one tuition. However, due to an unofficial freeze these pupils have not received this tuition, which is wrong. The new allocation model will not take account of their special needs education. Each year of delay robs them of vital special needs tuition.

I remind the Minister of State at the Department of Education and Science, Deputy Brian Lenihan, that the right to appropriate education is enshrined in Article 42.4 of the Constitution. Education is a right not a concession based on available resources. I urge the Minister of State to provide these resources in St. James's school and to prevent injustices being done to children with special educational needs.

The board of management action group will be highlighting more examples of injustices in the special needs area in other schools. It is due to meet senior Department officials. Following constructive dialogue, I hope the injustices in the special needs area for the schools identified will be rectified. I look forward to the Minister of State's response.

Brian Lenihan Jnr (Dublin West, Fianna Fail)
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I thank Senator Finucane for raising this issue on the Adjournment. The Department is delighted to clarify the position concerning St. James's school, Cappagh, County Limerick. The Department recently announced the introduction of a general allocation model to provide for resource teaching supports for pupils within the high incidence disability category and for pupils with learning support requirements. The new model replaces that which was notified to schools in June 2004, which has been reviewed to take account of difficulties it may have caused for smaller schools. The introduction of this new system will involve the provision of an estimated additional 340 permanent posts in primary schools from September next. A further 320 posts are being provided on a temporary basis to facilitate the transition to the new system. It is a matter for schools to make arrangements to provide teaching support to those pupils who qualify for such support from its general allocation.

The Department has now issued a letter to all primary schools notifying them of their general allocation and their clustering arrangements, if appropriate. The allocation for the school referred to by the Senator is 20 hours and the school has been notified accordingly. I would also like to advise the Senator that individual allocations of resource teaching support may continue where a pupil has been assessed as having a low incidence disability and where there is a continuing need for such support. In the case of pupils with low incidence disabilities, the National Council for Special Education, through the local special educational needs organisers, will review pupils' progress on an ongoing basis.

The Department is currently finalising a circular for schools which will contain detailed information on how the new system will operate. It is intended that this circular will issue before the end of the current school year. I can confirm to Senator Finucane that the school in question has forwarded a proposal regarding a revision of the clustering arrangements that had been notified to it. The proposal involves retaining the resource teaching post on a permanent basis in St. James's school by clustering its existing part-time, high-incidence hours with hours from a local school. Officials from the Department discussed the matter with the school principal earlier this week. The Department is currently examining the proposal and will be in direct contact with St. James's school shortly. I thank the Senator once again for affording me the opportunity to clarify the position in regard to this matter.

Michael Finucane (Fine Gael)
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Does the Minister of State have anything to say about the children who had to wait so long for psychological assessment by the Department of Education and Science? There appears to be a freeze in regard to one-to-one tuition that should be provided for these pupils with special needs. Many of these pupils are losing 15% of their educational potential because this resource is not being provided. Will the Minister of State request the Department to issue a reply on this matter?

Brian Lenihan Jnr (Dublin West, Fianna Fail)
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I will ask the Department to look into it but it is a separate matter from the one raised in the Adjournment matter.