Seán Ryan (Dublin North, Labour)
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Question 173: To ask the Minister for Education and Science the services available for teenagers and third level students who have been diagnosed with dyslexia. [16193/04]

Noel Dempsey (Meath, Fianna Fail)
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The fund for students with disabilities provides funding for students with disabilities, including dyslexia, who are attending courses in third level institutions and in post-leaving certificate centres. The purpose of the fund is to provide students with disabilities with grant assistance towards the cost of special equipment, special materials and technological aids, targeted transport services, personal assistants and sign language interpreters. The fund operates on a discretionary basis and expenditure under it amounted to €532,300 in 2003, with a total of 104 beneficiaries.

Applications, together with relevant supporting documentation, are submitted by the institutions for consideration for funding in each academic year. Decisions on those applications are taken by an ad hoc advisory group, which in 2003 consisted of representatives of my Department, a representative from the Association for Higher Education Access and Disability — AHEAD — and a representative from the recently established national office for equity of access to higher education within the Higher Education Authority.

The Deputy will no doubt be aware that one of the key recommendations of the report of the action group on access to third level education has now been implemented with the establishment of the national office for equity of access to higher education within the Higher Education Authority. The national office is now operational, taking over the administration of a number of access measures from the Department, including the fund for students with disabilities.

At second level each school in the free education scheme or block grant scheme with an enrolment of less than 600 recognised pupils, excluding pupils on PLC programmes, receives an allocation of 0.5 of a learning support post. Schools with an enrolment of 600 such pupils and more receive a full learning support post. My Department also allocates resource teacher posts and special needs assistant posts to second level schools and vocational education committees to cater for pupils with special needs, including pupils with dyslexia.

Applications for such support are made to my Department by the relevant school authorities. Each case is considered on its merits and the nature and level of support provided is based on the professionally assessed needs of the individual pupil.

Students in secondary schools in Ireland with special needs may have special arrangements made for them while sitting State examinations, namely, leaving certificate and junior certificate examinations. Candidates with disabilities can apply through their school for reasonable accommodation during examinations. Full details in respect of this can be obtained from the State Examination Commission.

John Deasy (Waterford, Fine Gael)
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Question 174: To ask the Minister for Education and Science if a special needs assistant will be appointed for a child (details supplied) in County Waterford who suffers from Down's syndrome and will be unable to start school in September 2004 without this aid; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [16200/04]

Noel Dempsey (Meath, Fianna Fail)
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I confirm that my Department has received an application for five hours resource teaching support and full-time special needs assistant support for the pupil referred to by the Deputy, who is due to commence school on 1 September 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 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.