Michael Ring (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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Question 457: To ask the Minister for Education and Science the help her Department will give to a person (details supplied) in County Mayo. [12135/05]

Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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Where a pupil with special educational needs enrols in a post-primary school, it is open to the school to apply for additional teaching support and-or special needs assistant support for the pupil.

My Department allocates additional teaching support and special needs assistant support to second level schools and vocational education committees to cater for pupils with special educational needs. Each application is considered on the basis of the assessed needs of the pupil(s) involved and having regard to a range of factors including the overall resources available to the school.

My Department has approved an allocation of 42.99 hours teaching support per week and 63 hours special needs assistant support per week to the school in question to cater for the special educational needs of a number of pupils, including the pupil to whom the Deputy refers.

The level of support allocated was determined after detailed consideration of the school's application, the supporting documentation provided and having regard to the overall level of resources already available to the school to address special needs issues.

If the school authority is of the view that the existing approved allocation is incapable of addressing the current level of assessed special needs within the school, my Department will be prepared to consider these concerns. Such consideration will require a clear demonstration of the inadequacy of the allocation by reference to the current utilisation of the school's available resources.