Jan O'Sullivan (Limerick East, Labour)
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Question 747: To ask the Minister for Education and Science if she will engage with persons (details supplied) to identify an appropriate education for their son; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [22711/05]

Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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I wish to advise the Deputy that my officials have worked closely with the Health Service Executive, northern area to develop an appropriate placement for the person in question. This placement at the Woodlawns centre in north Dublin has met with the approval of the High Court and remains available to the person should his parents be willing to consider sending him there. I believe the care plan which has been offered by the State is the best option for this young man as it will meet the totality of his needs by providing an integrated educational and health related support service to him on a residential basis.

The Woodlawns centre provides assessment, care, rehabilitation and education for individuals who have both a learning disability and other difficulties such as behavioural problems. An individual education plan will be drawn up to meet the young man's needs and will be delivered by a specialist teacher with the support of the special needs assistant. I understand from the HSE that a person centred plan to provide for his care needs will also be drawn up and will be delivered by the appropriate support staff in Woodlawns. He will also have access to occupational therapy and speech and language therapy.

I understand that following the High Court judgment the HSE, on behalf of the State, wrote to solicitors for the family in question seeking its agreement to meet officials from both the HSE and my Department in order to progress matters. My officials remain committed to working with the family to ensure a positive outcome.

Jan O'Sullivan (Limerick East, Labour)
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Question 748: To ask the Minister for Education and Science if and when she will meet representatives of a school (details supplied) in County Galway to discuss and address the loss of three permanent special needs resource teaching posts under the new weighted system; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [22712/05]

Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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As the Deputy is aware, a new scheme for allocating resource teachers to schools to cater for the needs of children with high incidence special needs and learning support needs was announced last month. The reason for the new scheme is simple. Children with special needs such as dyslexia or mild learning difficulties are found in almost every school. It makes sense then that every school should have a number of resource teaching hours based on the number of pupils in the school.

This is a major improvement on the previous system under which children with high incidence special educational needs required a psychological assessment for every child before they were give resource teaching hours by the Department. This was a time-consuming process that often led to delays in children getting the support they needed. Resource teachers will now be in place in the school from the start of the school year, so that children who need their assistance can get it straight away.

Under the new arrangement disadvantaged schools, boys schools and mixed schools get extra resources as research shows that pupils in these schools are more likely to have learning difficulties. To ensure that every school has enough resource teaching hours to meet the needs of its pupils, an extra 660 resource teaching posts are being put in place for next September. Some 340 of these are permanent posts and 320 are temporary posts being provided to ensure that children who had been given an individual allocation of resource teaching hours by my Department will keep these in situations where the general allocation to the school would not be sufficient to allow it to provide these hours from within its general allocation.

The provision of these temporary posts will ensure that no child who has been allocated a specific number of hours with a resource teacher by my Department will lose these under these new arrangements. In fact, the reality is that the majority of schools are gaining resource teaching hours under the new scheme.

Addressing the concerns of small and rural schools was, as the Deputy will be aware, the reason I initiated a review of the original general allocation model which had been announced last year to come into effect in the 2005-06 school year. Following this review, a special improved ratio for small schools has been introduced to ensure that they are given resource teaching hours on a more favourable basis.

If the Deputy wishes to provide information on the specific schools referred to in her question, I would be happy to supply details in respect of their staffing allocations under the new scheme. Officials in my Department are willing to discuss the new arrangements with any school and a contact name and phone number for the relevant official was provided to all schools with the letter outlining its allocation.