Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context

Question 437: To ask the Minister for Education and Science if the school placement of a person (details supplied) in County Kildare can be urgently attended to; if steps can be taken to increase the home tuition grant; if payment can be made up to date and at the beginning of each month; if transport costs can be met in the meantime; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [36445/05]

Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context

My Department is most anxious that all children, including children with autistic spectrum disorders, receive an education appropriate to their needs. I can confirm for the Deputy that 20 hours per week home tuition has been sanctioned for the child in question for the 2005-06 school year pending appropriate educational placement. Grants are paid retrospectively on receipt of fully completed and signed claim forms confirming the hours that were provided and signed by both the parent-guardian and the relevant teacher who delivered the home tuition programme.

My Department is also in receipt of information that indicates that the child in question is on the waiting lists for the Saplings facilities in Kill and Rathfarnham, that have been sanctioned on a pilot basis to provide a total of 60 places for children on the autistic spectrum. The question of enrolments in these facilities is a matter for the boards of management.

The provision of transport under the school transport scheme may be considered in respect of education facilities which are recognised by my Department. As the first facility referred to by the Deputy in the details supplied is operated on a pilot basis, applications for the provision of transport in respect of pupils attending this facility will be considered by my Department subject to the usual conditions. Applications in this regard should be submitted directly to the school transport section of my Department.

The second facility referred to by the Deputy is not recognised and my Department currently has no information regarding the education programme being provided by this facility. In the circumstances, further inquiries will be necessary in that regard and the provision of transport to the facility can be considered in the light of the outcome of those inquiries.