Barry Andrews (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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Question 250: To ask the Minister for Education and Science if he can reply to a letter dated 12 February 2004 from a person (details supplied) in County Wicklow regarding an application for resource teaching hours at a school (details supplied) in County Wicklow. [9643/04]

Noel Dempsey (Meath, Fianna Fail)
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A response to the letter dated 12 February 2004 will issue as soon as the postal dispute allows. Meanwhile, I confirm that my Department has received applications for special educational resources, SER, from the school referred to by the Deputy, including an application for the pupil in question. SER applications received between 15 February and 31 August 2003, including the application for the pupil in question, are being considered at present. In all, more than 5,000 such applications were received. Priority was given to cases involving children starting school last September and all of these cases were responded to before or soon after the commencement of the current school year.

The balance of more than 4,000 applications has been reviewed by a dedicated team comprising members of my Department's inspectorate and the National Educational Psychological Service. These applications are being further considered in the context of the outcome of surveys of SER provision conducted over the past year or so. Account is also being taken of the data submitted by schools as part of the recent nationwide census of SER provision.

The processing of the applications is a complex and time-consuming operation. However, my Department is endeavouring to have this completed as quickly as possible and my officials will then respond to all applicant schools. Pending a response, schools are advised to refer to Circular 24/03, which issued in September, 2003. This circular contains practical advice on how to achieve the most effective deployment of resources already allocated for special educational needs within the school.