Seán Crowe (Dublin South West, Sinn Fein)
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Question 147: To ask the Minister for Education and Science the funding that can be made available to have a special needs teacher allocated to a school (details supplied) in Kilnamanagh. [15189/04]

Noel Dempsey (Meath, Fianna Fail)
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I can confirm that my Department received applications for special education resources, SER, from the school referred to by the Deputy. Approximately 5,000 applications received between 15 February and 31 August 2003, including those from the school in question, are being considered at present. Priority was given to almost 1,000 cases involving children starting school last September and all those cases were responded to at or before the commencement of the current school year.

The remaining 4,000 applications have been reviewed by a dedicated team comprising members of my Department's inspectorate and the National Educational Psychological Service. Those applications are being further considered in the context of the outcome of surveys of special education resource provision conducted over the past year and the data submitted by schools as part of a nationwide census of such 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.

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: 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 my 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.

Transitional arrangements for the introduction of the weighted system are being developed at present in consultation with representative interests. As soon as those consultations have been completed, the detailed arrangements for processing applications for resources, including those received after 31 August last, will be set out in a circular to be issued to schools before the end of the current school year.

Paul Kehoe (Wexford, Fine Gael)
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Question 148: To ask the Minister for Education and Science when a school (details supplied) in County Wexford will be allocated the two special needs assistants recommended by his Department but not yet granted; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [15190/04]

Paul Kehoe (Wexford, Fine Gael)
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Question 149: To ask the Minister for Education and Science if the learning support teacher's hours in a school (details supplied) in County Wexford will be increased to provide learning support for the outstanding 20 children eligible under his Department's criteria; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [15191/04]

Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour)
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Question 172: To ask the Minister for Education and Science if, in relation to Ballycanew national school, Ballycanew, Gorey, County Wexford, officials of his Department have been in touch with school authorities in relation to their application for the appointment of a full-time learning support-resource teacher for the school; the position in relation to the provision of a full-time learning support-resource teacher for the school; the reason that the appointment of two special needs assistants, as recommended by the educational psychologists in 2003 and a further recommendation for one special needs assistant for 2004, has not been granted; if sanction for a prefab to accommodate the growing numbers at the school will be granted in the near future; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [15309/04]

Noel Dempsey (Meath, Fianna Fail)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 148, 149 and 172 together.

The school in question has the services of a shared learning support teacher. In addition, 10.5 hours part-time resource teaching support has been sanctioned at the school.

I can confirm that my Department received applications for additional special educational resource, SER, from the school in November 2003 and February 2004. The position is that SER applications received between 15 February and 31 August 2003 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 these cases were responded to at or before 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, NEPS. These applications are being further considered in the context of the outcome of surveys of SER provision conducted over the past year and the data submitted by schools as part of a 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.

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: 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 my 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.

Transitional arrangements for the introduction of the weighted system are being developed at present in consultation with representative interests. As soon as those consultations have been completed, the detailed arrangements for processing applications for resources, including those for special needs assistants and those received after 31 August last will be set out in a circular to be issued to schools before the end of the current school year. It is intended, also, that applicant schools will be notified of the outcome in their case within this timeframe.

Applications for temporary accommodation are received on an ongoing basis within my Department's school planning section. All applications on hand at 31 March 2004 have been assessed for the purchase of temporary accommodation in 2004 and details of successful applications are published in section 10 of the revised 2004 school building programme which is available on my Department's website at www.education.ie

All applications with an absolute and demonstrated need for additional accommodation were approved. Unsuccessful applications will be considered in the context of a review which is being undertaken of all projects that did not proceed as part of the 2004 school building programme with a view to including them as part of a multi-annual school building programme from 2005, details of which will be announced later in the year. The application from the school, to which the Deputy refers, for additional accommodation will be considered in this context.