Pádraic McCormack (Galway West, Fine Gael)
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Question 490: To ask the Minister for Education and Science if her attention has been drawn to the restricting guidelines whereby some children with Down's syndrome are ineligible for resource teaching if their disability is classed as mild with an IQ of over 49; her plans to amend the situation; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [36994/05]

Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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As the Deputy is aware, a new general allocation system has been introduced under which schools have been provided with resource teaching hours, based on their enrolment figures, to cater for children with high incidence special needs such as dyslexia and those with learning support needs.

My Department issued a comprehensive circular, Sp Ed 02/05, to all primary schools recently regarding the organisation of teaching resources for pupils who need additional support in mainstream primary schools. The main purpose of this circular is to provide guidance for schools on the deployment and organisation of the teaching resources that were allocated under the general allocation model. Reference is also made in this circular to the deployment of additional teaching resources that are allocated to schools for the support of individual pupils with low incidence disabilities.

It is a matter for each school to determine the pupils with high incidence special education and learning support needs that will receive supplementary teaching support. Each school will have enough resource teaching hours to provide its pupils with a level of support appropriate to their needs.

The professionally-assessed needs of the individual child determine the appropriate model of response in each case. It would appear that a significant percentage of children with Down's syndrome have been assessed as having a mild general learning disability which comes under the high incidence disability category. Such pupils fall to be catered for from within a schools general allocation of resource teaching support.

The school can use its professional judgement to decide how these hours are divided between different children in the school, to ensure that all their needs are met. Research shows that some children with special needs will respond better with one-to-one tuition. Others, however, do better when taught in small groups. Often it is best for resource teachers to work with children in the classroom rather than taking them away to a separate room, as the children then have to catch up on work done by the rest of the class in their absence. The point is that the type of response needed depends on the child. I would like to stress that there is nothing to stop the school from allocating one-to-one resource teaching support to any pupil if they feel that this is the best type of support to meet their needs.

In circumstances where a Down's syndrome child has other associated needs and would fall into the low incidence disability categories, this may automatically attract an individual resource teaching allocation. Such applications should be referred to the local special educational needs organiser, SENO, by the school.

Catherine Murphy (Kildare North, Independent)
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Question 492: To ask the Minister for Education and Science the locations in which the litigants sought services to be provided regarding the court cases that have been taken against her Department on behalf of children seeking special educational services in 2004 and 2005; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [36999/05]

Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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The locations in which litigants sought special educational services in actions initiated in 2004 and 2005 against the Minister for Education and Science on behalf of children are as follows. In 2004, one in Bangor in Wales, one in Meath, two in Kilkenny, three in Dublin, two in Cork, one in Offaly, one in Wicklow, two in Donegal, one in Galway, one in Sligo and one in Clare. In 2005, one in Clare, one in Kilkenny, one in Dublin, one in Louth, one in Kildare and one in Laois.