Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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Question 309: To ask the Minister for Education and Science when a special classroom assistant will be offered to a person (details supplied) in County Meath; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [29603/05]

Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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The National Council for Special Education — NCSE — has been established as an independent statutory body with responsibilities as set out in the National Council for Special Education (Establishment) Order, 2003. Since 1 January 2005 the NCSE, through local special educational needs organisers, SENOs, is responsible for processing resource applications for children with special educational needs.

Where a pupil with special educational needs enrols in a post-primary school, it is open to the school to apply to the local SENO for additional teaching support and/or special needs assistant support for the pupil. The NCSE has confirmed to my Department that an application for additional teaching support for the pupil referred to by the Deputy has been received recently and is currently being processed. The NCSE has also confirmed that no application for special needs assistant support has been received to date.