Tom Morrissey (Progressive Democrats)
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I thank the Minister for being here at this late hour to hear this matter on the Adjournment. I will not delay the House too long. While I accept that much has been done in the lifetime of this Government in respect of special needs education and additional teachers, I have raised this matter to get an update on the area of north Dublin in particular. Many people come to me who are distraught because their children have special needs. They are looking at where they go from primary to secondary school and fear the assistance that might be available to them at primary school level may not be in place at secondary level. I look forward to hearing the Minister's reply.

Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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I thank Senator Morrissey for raising this issue on the Adjournment. While the Department of Education and Science does not hold the specific information about areas like north County Dublin, there are more than 200 special classes for children with special educational needs in Dublin city and county. Of these, approximately 40 cater for children on the autism spectrum. In addition, the Department has sanctioned four stand-alone facilities providing an applied behavioural analysis, ABA, methodology response on a pilot basis in the Dublin area. There are also 40 special schools for children with disabilities in the Dublin area. In addition, 1,954 special needs assistants support the care needs of children in primary schools in Dublin and 344 special needs assistants provide similar support in second level schools.

As Senator Morrissey acknowledged, enormous progress has been made over recent years in respect of increasing the number of teachers in schools who are specifically dedicated to providing education for children with special educational needs. One in five primary school teachers works directly with children with learning difficulties and special needs. At second level, more than 2,300 whole-time equivalent additional teachers are in place to support pupils with special educational needs, with 534 of these being learning support teachers. In addition, there are in excess of 8,200 special needs assistants in primary and post-primary schools. This is up from approximately 300 special needs assistants in the space of only five or six years. More than €50 million was spent in 2006 on the school transport costs of children with special educational needs

The Department provides a wide range of supports and additional resources to support children who have been assessed as having special educational needs, including children in the Dublin north county area. These services are determined by the nature of the special educational need and include additional teaching support where a child is fully integrated into a mainstream school; reduced pupil-teacher ratios where the child is in a special class attached to a mainstream school or a special school; special needs assistant support for a child who has care needs; assistive technology where this is recommended; specialist equipment such as modified desks and chairs, as required; and specially adapted school buildings where necessary.

Primary schools are also supported by means of a general allocation which provides additional teaching support to enable schools to cater for pupils with high incidence special educational needs, such as dyslexia, and those with low attainments. Second level schools continue to be supported by the allocation of additional teaching hours, where appropriate, for each pupil enrolled who is assessed as having a special educational need. Special needs assistant support is allocated, as appropriate, to all schools where there are confirmed assessed care needs in respect of students.

Senator Morrissey may be aware that I recently announced that 31 additional psychologists are to be recruited to the National Educational Psychological Service, NEPS, in 2007. This will increase the total number of psychologists in NEPS by 25% to 158. In the last school year, my Department also funded more than 4,000 private assessments at a cost of €1.3 million. The extra 31 psychologists who will be recruited in 2007 will mean that more schools will have a direct service from NEPS.

The National Council for Special Education, through the 75 local special educational needs organisers, known as SENOs, is responsible for processing applications from primary and post-primary schools for special needs supports. These include some of the supports I have already outlined. They are an essential point of contact for both parents and schools. I am also very committed to the work carried on in special schools and special classes, recognising the unique contribution they make. I announced a 30% increase in the already enhanced capitation rates in respect of pupils attending special schools and special classes to recognise the clear importance of all these children, these schools and the work they do.

We have also commenced a review of the role of special schools and special classes in the context of the continuum of special needs education. It is obvious to the Senator that the Department and I have prioritised the area of special needs education. It leaves us open to criticism that we have not met targets in other areas, but anybody in this House would agree that children with special needs need to be our greatest priority.